The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the winners of its 2025 prizes, to be awarded at the AHA’s 139th annual meeting, which will take place in Chicago, Illinois, from January 8–11, 2026.
The AHA offers annual prizes honoring exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Since 1896, the Association has conferred over 1,000 awards. This year’s finalists were selected from a field of nearly 1,300 entries by 140 dedicated prize committee members. The names, publications, and projects of those who received these awards are a catalog of the best work produced in the historical discipline.
Awards for Publications
The Herbert Baxter Adams Prize for an author’s first book in European history from 1815 through the 20th century
Charlotte Lydia Riley (Univ. of Southampton) for Imperial Island: An Alternative History of the British Empire (Harvard Univ. Press, 2024)
The AHA Prize in American History for an author’s first book or scholarly equivalent
Gloria McCahon Whiting (Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison) for Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2024)
The AHA Prize in European International History
Samuel J. Hirst (Bilkent Univ.) for Against the Liberal Order: The Soviet Union, Turkey, and Statist Internationalism, 1919–1939 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2024)
The AHA Prize in History Prior to CE 1000
Paul J. Kosmin (Harvard Univ.) for The Ancient Shore (Harvard Univ. Press, 2024)
The Jerry Bentley Prize in world history
Diego Javier Luis (Johns Hopkins Univ.) for The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History (Harvard Univ. Press, 2024)
The Beveridge Family Prize in the history of the US, Latin America, or Canada since 1492
Seth Rockman (Brown Univ.) for Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2024)
The Raymond J. Cunningham Prize for the best article published in a journal written by an undergraduate student
Claire DeVinney (Univ. of Rochester) for “‘This Popular & Malcontent Temper’: Pennsylvania Currency and Transatlantic Commerce, 1720–1723,” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 92, no. 2 (Spring 2025)
Faculty adviser: Tanya Kevorkian (Millersville Univ.)
The Patricia Buckley Ebrey Prize in East Asian history prior to 1800
Tana Li (Australian National Univ.) for A Maritime Vietnam: From Earliest Times to the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2024)
The John K. Fairbank Prize in East Asian history since 1800
Matthew H. Sommer (Stanford Univ.) for The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China (Columbia Univ. Press, 2024)
The Morris D. Forkosch Prize in British, British imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485
Charmian Mansell (Univ. of Sheffield) for Female Servants in Early Modern England (Oxford Univ. Press, 2024)
The Leo Gershoy Award in 17th- and 18th-century western European history
Amanda Wunder (Lehman Coll. and Graduate Center, CUNY) for Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez: A Tailor at the Court of Philip IV (Yale Univ. Press, 2024)
The William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for the best article in a journal, magazine, or other serial on teaching history
Amanda I. Seligman (Univ. of Wisconsin–Milwaukee) and Jaclyn J. Kelly (Wisconsin Labor History Society) for “Staging Historical Reenactments on Twitter: History, Methods, and Ethics,” The History Teacher 57, no. 2 (February 2024)
The Friedrich Katz Prize in Latin American and Caribbean history
Marcy Norton (Univ. of Pennsylvania) for The Tame and the Wild: People and Animals After 1492 (Harvard Univ. Press, 2024)
The Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in women’s history and/or feminist theory
Alissa Klots (Univ. of Pittsburgh) for Domestic Service in the Soviet Union: Women’s Emancipation and the Gendered Hierarchy of Labor (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2024)
The Martin A. Klein Prize in African history
Admire Mseba (Univ. of Southern California) for Society, Power, and Land in Northeastern Zimbabwe, ca. 1560–1960 (Ohio Univ. Press, 2024)
The Littleton-Griswold Prize in US law and society
Alison L. LaCroix (Univ. of Chicago Law School) for The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms (Yale Univ. Press, 2024)
The J. Franklin Jameson Award for editing historical sources
Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva (Univ. of Rochester) for Mexico, Slavery, Freedom: A Bilingual Documentary History, 1520–1829 (Hackett, 2024)
The J. Russell Major Prize in French history
Catherine Tatiana Dunlop (Montana State Univ., Bozeman) for The Mistral: A Windswept History of Modern France (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2024)
The Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian history or Italian-American relations
Mark Gilbert (Johns Hopkins Univ.) for Italy Reborn: From Fascism to Democracy (W. W. Norton, 2024)
The George L. Mosse Prize in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since 1500
Catherine Tatiana Dunlop (Montana State Univ., Bozeman) for The Mistral: A Windswept History of Modern France (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2024)
The John E. O’Connor Film Award for outstanding interpretations of history through film
Documentary: Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny (Jeff Bieber Productions, LOOKS Film & TV Produktionen GmbH, Suedwestdeutscher Rundfunk, and RUNDFUNK BERLIN-BRANDENBURG in association with the Center for Independent Documentary and American Masters Pictures)
Jeff Bieber, director and writer; Chana Gazit, director and producer; and Maia Harris, writer
The Eugenia M. Palmegiano Prize in the history of journalism
Ira Chinoy (Univ. of Maryland) for Predicting the Winner: The Untold Story of Election Night 1952 and the Dawn of Computer Forecasting (Potomac Books, 2024)
The James A. Rawley Prize in the integration of Atlantic worlds before the 20th century
Marc A. Hertzman (Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) for After Palmares: Diaspora, Inheritance, and the Afterlives of Zumbi (Duke Univ. Press, 2024)
The John F. Richards Prize in South Asian history
Tithi Bhattacharya (Purdue Univ.) for Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence: A Social History of Fear in Colonial Bengal (Duke Univ. Press, 2024)
The Dorothy Rosenberg Prize in the history of the Jewish diaspora
Jonathan Judaken (Washington Univ. in Saint Louis) for Critical Theories of Anti-Semitism (Columbia Univ. Press, 2024)
The Roy Rosenzweig Prize for creativity in digital history
Gergely Baics (Barnard Coll., Columbia Univ.), Meredith Linn (Bard Graduate Center), Leah Meisterlin (Meisterlin Projects; Barnard Coll., Columbia Univ.), and Myles Zhang (Univ. of Michigan) for Envisioning Seneca Village (2024)
The Sinclair Prize for historical podcasts
Mackenzie Martin, Suzanne Hogan, and KCUR’s team of reporters, producers and editors for A People’s History of Kansas City (KCUR)
The Wesley-Logan Prize in African diaspora history
Beeta Baghoolizadeh (Columbia Univ.) for The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran (Duke Univ. Press, 2024)
Awards for Scholarly and Professional Distinction
The Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award for outstanding postsecondary history teaching
Lendol Calder (Augustana Coll.)
The Beveridge Family Teaching Award for excellence and innovation in K–12 teaching
Jazmin Puicon (Bard Early Coll.–Newark)
The Equity Award for excellence in recruiting and retaining underrepresented groups into the historical discipline
Michael Gomez (New York Univ.)
The Lepage Center Award for Historical Work in the Public Interest
Saul Cornell (Fordham Univ.)
The John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice for leadership and sustained engagement at the intersection of historical work and social justice
Antoinette T. Jackson (Univ. of South Florida)
The John Lewis Award for Public Service to the Discipline of History for significant contributions to history in the interest of social justice
Sidney Lapidus (Gilder Lehrman Inst. of American History)
The Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award for teachers of history who teach, guide, and inspire their students
Vera Garg (American Embassy School, New Delhi)
The Tikkun Olam Prize for promoting public historical literacy
Jamelle Bouie (New York Times)
The Honorary Foreign Member for a distinguished foreign scholar who has “notably aided the work of American historians”
Erika Pani (El Colegio de México)
The Award for Scholarly Distinction to senior historians for lifetime achievement
William H. Chafe (Duke Univ.)
Lorraine Daston (Max Planck Inst.)
Philip D. Morgan (Johns Hopkins Univ.)
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