William and Edwyna Gilbert Award
The 2019 submission deadline has passed. Awardees will be announced this fall.
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 articles in journals, magazines, and other serials. 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 additional funds to supplement the original bequest for the award. See the list of past recipients.
Eligibility
Articles with a publication date of 2019 are eligible for consideration for the 2020 award. Authors must be members of the AHA. 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.
Submission Details
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
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.
Nominations must be submitted through Interfolio by May 15, 2020, to be eligible for the 2020 competition. Mailed, e-mailed, or faxed applications will not be accepted. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2020 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2021 AHA annual meeting in Seattle.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
2019 Gilbert Award
Sam Wineburg, Stanford Univ.; Mark Smith, Stanford History Education Group; and Joel Breakstone, Stanford Univ.
“What Is Learned in College History Classes?” Journal of American History 104 (March 2018)
This article takes up the challenge of designing appropriate assessments for measuring student learning in college history classes. The authors present three sample assessment exercises on reading and interpreting sources, each of which could be adapted to other fields of history, along with an illuminating discussion of student responses. The assessments provide an opportunity to reevaluate how we engage history learners and teach skills of historical thinking within the classroom and beyond.