Affiliate Dissertation Prizes

Dissertation Grants and Prizes of the Affiliated Societies
The AHA's Affiliated Societies offer dissertation and graduate student prizes in a wide range of temporal and thematic historic fields. To better serve the graduate students who may benefit from these prizes, we have decided to consolidate many of those prizes onto one easy-to-find page. Each prize has its own application process, deadline, and award timeline so follow the links to learn more about the awards that interest you. Be sure to check out what other awards an affiliate offers as these may include study and travel grants!
Please note that the AHA does not have specific details about or control over these prizes and all questions and applications should be sent directly to the affiliated society. For a list of the AHA's various prizes, visit our Awards and Grants page.
Anne J. Bailey Dissertation Prize
The Society of Civil War Historians on behalf of the McWhiney Group offers a $2,000 stipend in even-numbered years to the best dissertation that takes the US Civil War era as its main point of focus.
Medieval Academy Dissertation Grants
The Medieval Academy of America offers nine dissertation grants to help students with research costs.
Rachel Fuchs Award
Presented by the CCWH, a $500 award that recognizes extraordinary mentorship and service to women and the LGBTQI community in the historical profession.
Allan Nevins Prize
Presented by the Society of American Historians, the prize is awarded annually for the best-written doctoral dissertation on a significant subject in American history.
Margaret A. Blanchard Dissertation Prize
Presented by the American Journalism Historians Association, the prize is awarded annually for the best doctoral dissertation dealing with mass communication history.
Herman E. Krooss Prize for Best Dissertation in Business History
Presented by the Business History Conference: any dissertation in business history completed in the three calendar years immediately prior to the annual meeting is eligible once for consideration.
Cromwell Dissertation Prize
Presented by the American Society for Legal History, the prize is awarded annually to the best dissertation in any topic of American legal history completed in the past year.
Carol Gold Article Prize
A $500 prize awarded by the CCWH to a scholar of any rank for a superlative article published in any field of history.
Nupur Chaudhuri First Article Prize
Presented by the CCWH, a $1000 award that recognizes a superlative first article published in any field of history.
NACBS Dissertation Fellowships
The North American Conference on British Studies awards 3 dissertation fellowships to support dissertation research in the British Isles on any topic of British (including Scottish, Irish and Imperial) history or British Studies.
IEHS Awards
The Immigration and Ethnic History Society presents two awards. The Pozzetta award to any Ph.D. candidate completing qualifying exams that year and whose thesis focuses on American immigration, emigration, or ethnic history. And an Outstanding Dissertation Award in the same field.
Herbert G. Gutman Prize for Outstanding Dissertation
Awarded by the Labor and Working Class History Association to the best dissertation in U.S. labor and working class history defended during the previous academic year.
GHI/Friends of the GHI Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize
Granted to the best doctoral dissertation in German history at a North American university; includes an invitation and travel reimbursement to present at the annual symposium in Washington, DC.
Ida B. Wells Graduate Student Fellowship
A $1000 award to a graduate student completing a historical dissertation, not necessarily in a history department, that interrogates race and gender. Awarded by the CCWH.
Walter Rundell Graduate Student Award
Presented by the Western History Association to a doctoral candidate who has completed comprehensive examinations for their dissertation subject on the North American West.
WHA-Huntington Library Martin Ridge Fellowship
The Western History Association and the Huntington Library select a doctoral student at the dissertation stage or Ph.D (or equivalent degree) holder for a one-month fellowship.
Adele Dalsimer Prize for Distinguished Dissertation
Presented by the American Conference for Irish Studies to the best dissertation in Irish Studies.
WHA Graduate Student Prize
The Western History Association awards up to ten students with a funding package to attend the WHA conference.
CCWH/Berks Graduate Student Fellowship
A $1000 award to a graduate student completing a dissertation in history.
The Gwin J. and Ruth Kolb Research Travel Fellowship
The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies grants the fellowship to support doctoral candidates with demonstrable need to consult a specific collection to complete a dissertation on an aspect of eighteenth-century studies.
The Catherine Prelinger Memorial Award
Presented by the CCWH. A $20,000 award given to a scholar who has not followed a traditional academic path of uninterrupted study. The award is open to applicants with a PhD and graduate students advanced to candidacy.
The Ellis Dissertation Award
Awarded to a doctoral student in the field of Catholic Studies with a promising, but not-yet-completed dissertation.
SAHS Dissertation Prize
The Society for Austrian and Habsburg Studies awards the prize every other year to a dissertation in the humanities, social sciences, or the arts and deal with Central Europe, including the successor states of the Habsburg Empire.
Nathan Reingold Prize
The History of Science Society awards a prize for the best unpublished essay on the history of science by a graduate student.
SHAFR Graduate Dissertation Research Grants
The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations offers four dissertation grants to help students with research costs.
NASSH Dissertation Research Award
The North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) awards up to $3,000 for one award, or for fractional awards for several applicants, at the discretion of the Committee.
NASSH Dissertation Prize Award
The North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) awards $1,000 on a biannual basis recognizing outstanding doctoral dissertations in the field of sport history.