William and Edwyna Gilbert Award
The William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for the Best Article on Teaching History annually recognizes outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of journal articles. Originally the “William Gilbert Award,” named in memory of William Gilbert, a longtime AHA member and distinguished scholar-teacher of the Renaissance at the University of Kansas, it was renamed the William and Edwyna Gilbert Award in 2012 after Edwyna Gilbert passed away and left an additional $110,000 to supplement the original $10,000 bequest for the award.
Articles by AHA members with a publication date of 2016 may be nominated for consideration. Both the author of the winning article and the journal that publishes it will each receive the award. Journals and individual members may submit nominations on the teaching of history (including scholarship of teaching and learning, methodology and theory of pedagogy). Journals, magazines, and other serials can submit up to two articles for each award cycle.
Each nomination must include the following:
- Award nomination form (you will be prompted to complete this form online in step 3 of the application process)
- A brief letter of support (no more than two pages)
- A copy of the article
Deadline, Submission Information, and Notification
The AHA has partnered with Interfolio to manage our nomination process. Submitting a nomination package through Interfolio is FREE for nominators. When submitting a nomination, if you don't already have an account with Interfolio, you will be asked to set up an account and create a password, but you will NOT be charged any fee to create the account. When available, nomination instructions are available by clicking on the box to the left. Nominations must be submitted through Interfolio by May 23, 2017, to be eligible for the 2017 competition. Mailed, e-mailed, or faxed applications will not be accepted. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2017 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2018 AHA annual meeting in Washington, DC.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
2015 Gilbert Award
Peter Burkholder, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.
“A Content Means to a Critical Thinking End: Group Quizzing in History Surveys,” The History Teacher 47, no. 4 (August 2014): 551–78
Teaching a survey course is both the gateway to historical study for many, and the last exposure to history for many others, and its importance is often undervalued. Rather than treating the coverage of general content and the promotion of cognitive approaches in a survey class as mutually exclusive goals, Burkholder’s course design methods make them mutually reinforcing, and the survey course especially enriching. His methods deserve recognition for their merit and contribution.