James Henry Breasted Prize
The submission deadline has passed. Awardees are announced in the fall, and the next contest will begin in the spring.
Established in 1985 and named in honor of James Henry Breasted, a pioneer in ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern history and president of the Association in 1928, this prize is offered for the best book in English in any field of history prior to CE 1000. The prize was endowed by Joseph O. Losos, a longtime member of the Association.
The current prize amount is $1,000. See the list of past recipients.
The general rules for submission are:
- Only books of a high scholarly nature should be submitted. Research accuracy, originality, and literary merit are important factors.
- Only books bearing a copyright of 2021 will be 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 “Breasted 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 Breasted Prize
Charles Sanft, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Literate Community in Early Imperial China: The Northwestern Frontier in Han Times (SUNY Press)
The primary materials of Charles Sanft’s work are wooden writing strips left by soldiers posted on the northwestern frontier of Han China (206/2 BCE–220 CE). Sanft forges the concept of literate community, in which groups rather than individuals are the focus, and looks at all forms of interaction with texts. Thus, he avoids the narrow perspective of many approaches to literacy and favors nonelite, nonofficial engagement with texts, reading, including reading aloud by others, rather than writing.