Equity Award

The AHA Equity Award is meant to recognize and publicize those who have achieved excellence in recruiting and retaining underrepresented racial and ethnic groups into the historical discipline.

The prize will be awarded on a two-year cycle rotation: in even-numbered years, to institutions; in odd-numbered years, to an individual. The awards can be conferred for new initiatives or for ongoing efforts. The current prize amount is $1,000.

Deserving nominees will have made an impact promoting equity in the work and study of history through mentoring, program building, fundraising initiatives, pursuing civic engagement, and working in a variety of venues to promote a supportive environment.

Institutional nominees could include academic units such as departments of history, public history programs, interdisciplinary programs, research institutes, and other organizations. Such institutions or institutional units may have taken advantage of institutional and community resources to diversify history students and faculty or to provide professional experience through teaching, research, postdoctoral, or internship programs.

The 2025 award will be for an individual. The Committee on Racial and Ethnic Equity will serve as the jury and will recommend awardees for the individual and institutional awards. Nominations may also be submitted through MY AHA (see instructions below).

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. (For the institutional award, select one person to be the primary nominee.)

1. Fill in the application form, which includes the nominee’s contact information and the name of institution (for institutional award in even-numbered years).
2. Upload an Application Packet as a single PDF. Include the following documents:
   • Nomination statement (up to 750 words) describing the new initiative or ongoing effort of the nominee and emphasizing specific outcomes
   • CV (for the individual award)
   • List of references with contact information (minimum of 3) who endorse the nomination. These can be students, former students, parents, colleagues, and others. There is no set proportion or formula on the “right” mix of references. Individuals organizing nominations should solicit a cross selection as appropriate to address the essential elements noted above.

Please Note: The competition will open in mid-March. Entries must be received by May 15, 2025, to be eligible for the 2025 competition. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2025 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2026 AHA annual meeting in Chicago.

For questions, please contact awards@historians.org.