At its 83rd annual meeting, held in conjunction with the AHA's annual meeting in Chicago, the American Catholic Historical Association announced the award of the John Gilmary Shea Prize and the Howard R. Marraro Prize to David Burr, professor emeritus of history at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for his book, The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis (Penn State Press, 2001), which explores the world of the Church in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The John Gilmary Shea Prize committee termed Burr's work "a tour de force," commending the comprehensiveness and deftness of his study. The Howard R. Marraro Prize Committee declared that the work was a "fundamental contribution to our knowledge of late medieval religious thought and experience." Burr, who received his PhD from Duke University in 1966, joined the faculty of Virginia Tech in that year and taught there until his retirement in 2001. He is the author of several other books that examine the history of the medieval Church.

The Shea Prize is awarded annually to the American or Canadian author who has made the most original and significant contribution to the historiography of the Catholic Church in the form of a book published during the 12-month period preceding June 30 of the award year. The Marraro Prize is awarded annually to the author of a scholarly work dealing with Italian history or Italo-American history or relations.