In recognition of his exceptional role as a pioneer in both teaching and research regarding film and history, the American Historical Association has established this award in honor of John E. O'Connor, New Jersey Institute of Technology. The honorific award seeks to recognize outstanding interpretations of history through the medium of film or video.

2018
Documentary: Tracy Strain, director and producer, and Randall MacLowry, producer, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart (Lorraine Hansberry Documentary Project, LLC)

2017
Documentary: Raoul Peck, director, I Am Not Your Negro (Velvet Film)
Dramatic Feature: Gary Ross, director, Free State of Jones (Bluegrass Films, Larger Than Life Productions, Route One Entertainment, and Vendian Entertainment)

2016
Documentary: Renee Tajima-Pena, director, and Virginia Espino, producer, No Más Bebés (Moon Canyon Films)
Dramatic Feature: Laszlo Nemes, director; Gabor Rajna, producer; and Gabor Sipos, producer, Son of Saul (Laokoon Filmgroup)

2015
Documentary: Tony Buba, director, and Marcus Rediker, producer, The Ghosts of Amistad: In the Footsteps of the Rebels (Univ. of Pittsburgh)
Dramatic Feature: Steve McQueen, director, and Brad Pitt, producer, 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

2012
Nancy Buirski, director, and Elisabeth James, producer, The Loving Story (Icarus Films)

2011
Chad Freidrichs, director and producer, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History (with Jaime Freidrichs, Paul Fehler, and Brian Woodman, producers; Unicorn Stencil Documentary Films)

2010
Judith Ehrlich, producer and director, and Rick Goldsmith, producer and director, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

2009
Llewellyn Smith, producer; Vincent Brown, producer; and Christine Herbes-Sommers, producer, Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness (Vital Pictures and Independent Television Service)

2008
Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno, producer and director, and Jerome Bongiorno, photographer, editor, and animator, Revolution '67 (Bongiorno Productions, Independent Television Service, and P.O.V./American Documentary, in association with WSKG)

2007
Peter Miller, director and producer, and Amy Linton, editor and producer, Sacco and Vanzetti (Willow Pond Films)

2005
David Lebrun, producer, writer, director, and editor, Proteus: A Nineteenth Century Vision (Night Fire Films)

2004
Geremie Barme, director, producer, and writer; Richard Gordon, director and producer; and Carma Hinton, producer, Morning Sun (Long Bow Group)

2003
Chea Prince, director, and Constance Curry, producer, The Intolerable Burden (Blue Stream Productions)

2002
Judith Ehrlich, producer and director, and Rich Tejada-Flores, producer and director, The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It (Paradigm Productions, in association with Independent Television Service)

2001
Elizabeth Barret, producer and director, Stranger with a Camera (Appalshop and Kentucky Educational Television, in association with Independent Television Service)

2000
Anne Makepeace, director, Coming to Light: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians (Anne Makepeace Productions and WNET, in association with Bullfrog Films)

1999
Emiko Omori, director and producer, Rabbit in the Moon

1998
Larry Weinstein, producer, The War Symphonies: Shostakovich versus Stalin (Rhombus Media)

1997
Kathleen McDonough, writer, producer, and director, A World Inscribed

1996
Rick Goldsmith, co-writer and producer, Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press

1995
David Grubin, writer and producer, FDR (David Grubin Productions)

1994
Connie Field, director, and Marilyn Mumford, director, Freedom on my Mind (Clarity Film Productions)

1993
American Social History Project, Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (Pennee Bender, Joshua Brown, and Andrea Andes Vasquez, directors)