Dorothy Rosenberg Prize
The submission deadline has passed. Awardees are announced in the fall, and the next contest will begin in the spring.
The Dorothy Rosenberg Prize for the history of the Jewish diaspora recognizes the most distinguished work of scholarship on the history of the Jewish diaspora published in English during the previous calendar year. Eligibility will otherwise be defined quite broadly, to include books on any period and from any disciplinary field that incorporates a historical perspective.
In making its selection, the prize committee will pay particular attention to depth of research, methodological innovation, conceptual originality and literary excellence. Works that reinterpret old themes or develop new theoretical perspectives are welcome. Anthologies, encyclopedias and other edited volumes will not be considered. The current prize amount is $1,000. See the list of past recipients.
The general rules for submission are:
- Books with a copyright of 2021 are eligible for the 2022 award.
- Nomination submissions may be made by an author or by a publisher. Publishers may submit as many entries as they wish. Authors or publishers may submit the same book for multiple AHA prizes.
- Nominators must complete an online prize submission form for each book submitted.
- One copy of each entry must be sent to each committee member and clearly labeled “Rosenberg Prize Entry.” Print copies preferred unless otherwise indicated. If only e-copy is available, please contact review committee members beforehand to arrange submission format.
Please Note: Entries must be received by May 15, 2022, to be eligible for the 2022 competition. Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2022 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2023 AHA annual meeting in Philadelphia.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
This year's submission deadline has passed.
The review committee contact information and prize submission form for the next competition will be posted by March 1 for submissions due May 15.
2020 Rosenberg Prize


Tamar Herzig, Tel Aviv University
A Convert's Tale: Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy (Harvard Univ. Press)
Following the travails of Salmone da Sesso, an Italian Jewish goldsmith and gambler who converted to Catholicism, Tamar Herzig’s meticulously researched microhistorical study takes its readers on a fascinating journey into mid-15th-century Italy’s elite society, exploring questions of apostasy and conversion, sexuality and gender, aesthetic creativity and social mobility, spirituality and worldly wealth. A virtuoso study of a virtuoso Jew, this book opens up the world of Renaissance Italy through multiple prisms and with exquisite details, based on deep archival research, intervenes in no fewer fields than art history, history of sexuality, business history, and importantly the conjoined histories of Judaism and Christianity.