Raymond J. Cunningham Prize
The American Historical Association offers the Raymond J. Cunningham Prize annually for the best article published in a journal written by an undergraduate student. The prize was established in memory of Raymond J. Cunningham, who was an associate professor of history at Fordham University. He was an authority on American historian Herbert Baxter Adams.
The current prize amount is $500 each to the author and journal. See the list of past recipients.
Eligibility
The prize selection committee has typically given preference to articles that incorporate primary sources. The article must be published in a journal between May 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024.
Application Process
Log into your MY AHA account at historians.org/myaha and click “Available Application Forms” in the AHA Awards, Grants, and Jobs section. If you don't have an account, create one for free at historians.org/createaccount. If nominating someone else, select the Nominate button and search for the nominee’s existing record or create a new record.
- Fill in the application form, which includes the nominee’s contact information and the name of the article, journal, and faculty advisor.
- Upload an Application Packet as a single PDF. Include the following documents:
- Letter of support (no more than 2 pages)
- Copy of the article
Only ONE article from a specific journal may be nominated each year.
Please Note: Entries must be received by May 15, 2024, to be eligible for the 2024 competition. Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2024 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2025 AHA annual meeting in New York.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
2023 Cunningham Prize
Jacqueline Wu, Yale University
“The Chinese Labor Experiment: Contract Workers in the Northeastern United States, 1870–1880,” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 90, no. 2 (Spring 2023)
Faculty adviser: Joe William Trotter, Carnegie Mellon University
Jacqueline Wu’s essay examines Chinese laborers in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania during the latter part of the 19th century. Moving east of the Rockies, Wu argues that race and worker agency—as Chinese workers refused to fit into neatly ascribed stereotypes of docility and subservience—led to the decline of the Chinese labor experiment in the Northeast. This is an outstanding essay that demonstrates a masterful use of primary sources, an impressive engagement with the secondary literature, and prose that is clear and sharp.