Western Association of Women Historians
Annual awards and prizes
- Founders' Dissertation Fellowship
- Judith Lee Ridge Prize
- Frances Richardson Keller-Sierra Prize
- Barbara "Penny" Kanner Prize
- Gita Chaudhuri Prize
Founders' Dissertation Fellowship
The Founders' Dissertation Fellowship Award is open to all fields of history.The awards is given to those graduate students who show promise of significant contribution to historical scholarship. Awarded to current members of the WAWH, advanced to candidacy, writing the dissertation at the time of the application, and expecting to receive the degree no earlier than December of the award year. The $1000 award may be used for expenses related to the dissertation.
Read about previous Founders Dissertation Fellowship Winners >>>
Judith Lee Ridge Prize
The WAWH awards $400 for the best article in the field of history published by a WAWH member. The article must have been published in one of the two years proceeding the award year. All fields of history will be considered, and articles must be submitted with full scholarly apparatus. Recipients are current members of the WAWH for at least one year prior to submission.
Eligibility is limited to two groups: those residing in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming or the Western Canadian Provinces; and WAWH members residing in other states who have paid membership for three years (not necessarily consecutive years).
Read about previous Judith Lee Ridge Award Winners >>>
Frances Richardson Keller-Sierra Prize
The WAWH awards $800 for the best monograph in the field of history published by a current WAWH member. The book must be a monograph based on original research (not an anthology or edited work). It must be published in the year prior to the award. No book cannot be submitted more than once. This includes books previously issued as hardback and reissued as paper. The Prize is open to all fields of history.
Eligibility of the prize is limited to two groups: those residing in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming or the Western Canadian Provinces; and WAWH members residing in other states who have paid membership for three years (not necessarily consecutive years).
Read about previous Keller-Sierra Prize Winners >>>
Barbara "Penny" Kanner Prize
The Western Association of Women Historians awards $500 to the best scholarly bibliographical and historical guide to research focused on women or gender history published by a WAWH member. The Barbara "Penny" Kanner Award has been established by the WAWH to honor the distinguished achievement in two areas:
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scholarly bibliographical and historiographic guides to research focused on women or gender history or
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annotation or critical editions of autobiography(ies) of women.
The bibliographical and the autobiography awards will be given in alternate years, with submissions for each award considered for two-year intervals from the date of publication. The Kanner Award is intended to promote the practice of bibliomethodology or critical editions of autobiography(ies). The bibliomethodology award should reflect the critical tools of the historian’s craft as they have been developed to provide research guides rather than library catalogues. The autobiography award should reflect the craft of history as developed and interpreted in individual lives. Book-length submissions are preferred but substantial guides in other forms (articles or book chapters) may also be considered.
Read about previous Kanner Prize Winners >>>
Gita Chuadhuri Prize (new in 2009)
The Gita Chaudhuri Prize is an annual $1000 prize that recognizes the best monograph about rural women, from any era and any place in the world, published by a WAWH member.
The book must be a single-authored monograph based on original research. Anthologies and edited works are not eligible. The book must have been published in the year prior to the prize. Books may only be submitted for consideration once. Books cannot be submitted a second time as paperbacks or new editions. All fields of history are eligible. Entries must be in English.
The Committee shall use the following criteria in selecting recipients: originality of conception and analysis, wide research and careful documentation, and clarity of expression.
A rural community is defined by a group of people who:
- live in a given geographical area with its own natural resources serving as a major bedrock support to produce agricultural crops and food products (grains, meat, fish, poultry, egg honey etc.),
- may make profits from surplus goods taken to markets, which may include making handicraft works (potteries, needleworks, quilts, paintings on a canvas etc.) as marketable commodities.
The committee is especially interested in projects that include rural women who:
- create local employment opportunities for others,
- service others within the community for maintaining daily lives,
- build a prosperous future for themselves and their children while raising their families, and
- work in small or large ways for the well-being of the community members while advancing in their own lives.
Find out more about this year's WAWH awards and prizes here.
updated June 4, 2008