We conducted a survey of some of the most prestigious academic prizes in the discipline of history awarded by professional associations and other bodies or institutions in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States. Information was gathered from websites and the time period covered by this audit was framed by information detailed on the sites. This is not an exhaustive audit of all the awards granted by these associations.

In all countries the pattern was that women tend to win a greater proportion of awards that acknowledge student or early career historians as well as for teaching, service, and non-traditional research outputs, than the prizes that recognise scholarly excellence. . In Australia women are well-represented among prize recipients, correlating with their near-equitable numbers in the academic workforce in that country.

Australia

The Australian Historical Association has a suite of awards and prizes. Of seven awards four recognise women: Of seven awards four recognise women: the Jill Roe Prize, Kay Daniels Award and Ann Curthoys Prize (established 2019) are named after eminent women historians; and the Magarey Medal for biography which is open only to women authors.

• Jill Roe Prize, established 2014, for unpublished article-length work by postgraduate student
• Kay Daniels Award,  established 2004, a biennial prize recognising outstanding original research with a bearing on Australian convict history and heritage including in its international context: 5 of 7 winners have been women, and a further winner had woman/man co-authors.
• Allan Martin Award, established 2004, a research fellowship to assist early-career historians further research in Australian history 4 of 5 winners have been women.
• Serle Award, established 2005, for the best postgraduate thesis in Australian history.
• WK Hancock Prize, established 20008, for the best first book by an Australian scholar in any field of history.

Figure 1: Distribution of AHA awards and prizes by gender from establishment of award to 2020

Source: GESS researchers’s calculations, data collected from AHA website (accessed September 2020). ‘Joint’ indicates that the award in a given year was shared by a woman and a man.

The Australian Women’s History Network awards the Mary Bennett Prize for Women’s History every two years to an early career historian. There appears to be no stipulation that the nominees must be women but all prizes have been awarded to women since its inception in 2000. 

The Ernest Scott Prize is arguably the most prestigious in history in Australia for Australia or New Zealand history. It is administered by the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. Since its inception in 1952, women have been 26 per cent of recipients.

Other prestigious awards for history in Australia include:

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Prize for Australian History is one of a range of awards that ‘celebrate the contribution of Australian literature to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life’. The awards are held annually and provide a tax-free prize of A$100,000 in each category. In 2012 the former Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History, established in 2008, was incorporated into the Literary Awards. The following graph counts both prizes. The prize is often awarded jointly to two recipients. Women have been the sole prize recipients in three of the last four years.

From 2012 to 2019 the Queensland Literary Awards - University of Southern Queensland History Book Award has been awarded to 7 women and 2 men, including a jointly authored work in 2016. All recipients are academic historians.

All recipients of the NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize have been academic historians. Of the awards made from 2012 to 2020, 4 were to women and 5 were to men.

From 2004 to 2016 the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards - State Library of Western Australian West Australian History was awarded to 9 women and 5 men. There was no award in 2013 or 2015, and there were joint winners in 2005 and 2006. Of the recipients 6 are academic historians, 5 are historians working outside of academy, and the remaining are a journalist, a writer and in indigenous collaborator.

The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards do not have a specific category for history. There are awards for non-fiction which history titles have won at times but no inventory of these has been made.

Figure 2: Distribution of Australian national and state awards by gender, 2020

Source: GESS researcher’s calculations from awards websites: Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne; Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Prize for Australian History; Queensland Literary Awards – University of Southern Queensland History Book Award; NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize; Western Australian Premier's Book Awards – State Library of Western Australian West Australian History (accessed September 2020).

Canada

A count was made of women winners of Canadian Historical Association (CHA) awards in April 2019 and updated in December 2020. Many of the awards were established relatively recently, the oldest one being awarded since 1977.

The CHA has three prizes for women’s and gender history and one for work on the history of sexuality. It also has a prize for work in the field of history of children and youth.

• Canadian Committee on Women’s History Book Prize, established 2014, awarded every two years to the best book published in women’s and gender history in the previous two years, in either English or French.
• Hilda Neatby Prize - English Article, established 1982, encourages the publication of scholarly articles on women’s and gender history. This prize has been awarded twice to a man, both times to the same man.
• Hilda Neatby Prize - French Article, established 1991. (The Hilda Neatby prize is combined in the graph below.)
• Neil Sutherland Article Prize, established 2008, awarded biennially in recognition of outstanding contribution to the history of children and youth.

The other CHA prizes are:

• François-Xavier Garneau Medal, established 19805, awarded every five years, it is the most prestigious of the CHA prizes, honouring an outstanding Canadian contribution to historical research.
• CHA Best Scholarly Book Prize in Canadian History Prize, established 19778, given to the non-fiction work of Canadian history judged to have made the most significant contribution to an understanding of the Canadian past.
• Wallace K. Ferguson Prize, established 1980, recognising the outstanding scholarly book in a field of history other than Canadian history.
• John Bullen Prize, established 1991, for an outstanding PhD thesis on a historical topic submitted in a Canadian university.
• CHA Journal Prize, established 2001, awarded every year for the best essay published each year in the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association.
• Jean-Marie Fecteau Prize, established 2014, for the best article published in a peer-reviewed journal (including peer-reviewed student journals) by a PhD of MA-level student, in French or in English.
• Indigenous History Book Prize, established 2010, for the best book in aboriginal history.
• Indigenous History Best Article Prize, established 2012, for the best article in aboriginal history.
• Best Book in Political History Prize, established 2011, for an outstanding, well-written book judged to have made an original, significant, and meritorious contribution to the field of Canadian political history.
• Political History Prize - Best Article (English Language),established  20118, awarded every second year for the best article in Canadian political history.
• Political History Prize - Best Article (French Language), established 2012, awarded in alternate years for the best article in Canadian political history. (The Political History Prize is combined in the graph below.)
• Eugene A. Forsey Prize, established 2009, for the best thesis on labour history.
• Best Article Prize in Labour History, established 2014, recognising the best article in labour history.
• Canadian Committee on Migration, Ethnicity and Transnationalism Article Prize, established 20148, acknowledging scholarly articles and book chapters, in English and French, judged to have made an original, significant, and meritorious contribution to the historical study of migration and ethnicity.
• Canadian Oral History Association (COHA) Prize, established 2016, awarded to an outstanding example of oral history practice.
• Media and Communication History Committee Prize, established 2014, awarded to a graduate student.

The CHA has recently added a further three awards:

• CBHA/ACHA Award for Best Book in Canadian Business History, awarded for the first time in 2019 to a man.

• CBHA/ACHA Award for Best Book in Canadian Business History, to be awarded for the first time in 2021.
• Network in Canadian History and Environment Prize for Best Article of Book Chapter, to be awarded for the first time in 2021.

Figure 3. Distribution of CHA awards by gender, 2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from the Canadian Historical Association website (accessed December 2020). 

United Kingdom

A count was made of women winners of Royal Historical Society (RHS) awards and the Wolfson History Prize in April 2019 and updated in December 2020.

Most RHS awards are made to graduate students and early career researchers, and none are specifically for female scholars or gender/feminist topics. One award is named for a woman historian: The Jinty Nelson Award for Inspirational Teaching and Supervision in History. It has been awarded three times since 2018, each time to a woman. A second teaching award – Royal Historical Society Innovation in Teaching Award – was established in 2019 when it was won jointly by a woman and a man. It was awarded to a man in 2020. 

A high use of initials rather than surnames, especially for the oldest awards whose early recipients have a small or non-existent digital footprint, means a large number of awardees are categorised as gender ‘unknown’.

The RHS prizes surveyed are:

• Alexander Prize, established 1898, awarded for an essay or article based on original historical research, by a doctoral candidate or those recently awarded their doctorate, published in a journal or an edited collection of essays.
• David Berry Prize, established 1937, for the best essay addressing an aspect of Scottish history.
• Gladstone Prize, established 1997, for a work of history on a topic not primarily related to British history that is the author’s first sole book publication.
• German History Society Prize, established 2003, for an essay on any aspect of German history.
• Rees Davies Prize, established 2007, for the best Master’s dissertation submitted by a UK institution of Higher Education.
• Whitfield Prize, established 1977, for a work on British or Irish history that is the author’s first sole book publication.

It is worth noting that the first recipient of the Alexander Prize in 1898 was a woman, and that until 1950 women were 54 per cent of the recipients. From 1951 to current they are only 17 per cent of recipients. The large number of recipients whose gender could not be determined (24 per cent) distorts this figure, however, if we assume that the ‘unknowns’ are equal numbers of women and men and add that number to the totals, women would still only be 29 per cent of recipients.

Also included in UK history prizes is the Wolfson History Prize which has been awarded annually since 1972 by a panel of distinguished historians. The prize website states that the Wolfson History Prize ‘has become synonymous with celebrating outstanding history.’ Just 23 per cent of recipients have been women.

Figure 4. Distribution of Royal Historical Society awards by gender, 1898-2020, and the Wolfson History Prize, 1972-2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from Royal Historical Society website (accessed December 2020) and from Wolfson History Prize website (accessed April 2020). Joint winners indicate that the prize was awarded to a woman and a man, where joint winners were of the same gender they counted as a single win for the relevant gender

United States

An audit of where and how women are recognised in awards of history scholarship in the US was made in April 2018 and updated in January 2021.

The American Historical Association has a large suite of awards and prizes that date back to 1886. One is awarded annually for the most outstanding book in women’s history and/or feminist theory: the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize was established in 1984 and named in memory of Joan Kelly (1928–82) and the recipient is a historian who reflects the high intellectual and scholarly ideals exemplified by her life and work. The prize was established by the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession and the Conference Group on Women’s History (now the Coordinating Council for Women in History. The AHA website gives no indication that only women are eligible but the award has never been won by a man.

Figure 5 displays a count of the gender distribution of recipients of the following awards:

• Award for Scholarly Distinction to senior historians for lifetime achievement, established 1985
• Herbert Feis Award, established 1984, for distinguished contributions to public history
• Wesley-Logan Prize, established 1994, for a book on African diaspora history
• Roy Rosenzweig Prize, established 2009, for innovation in digital history
• Dorothy Rosenberg Prize, established 20157, for a work on history of the Jewish diaspora published in English
• James Harvey Robinson Prize, established 1978, for a teaching aid
• John F. Richards Prize, established 2011, for a book on South Asian history published in English
• Premio Del Rey, established 1990, for a book in English on early Spanish history
• James A. Rawley Prize, established 19997, for a book that explores integration of Atlantic worlds before 20th century
• Eugenia M. Palmegiano Prize, established 2017, for the most outstanding book published in English on any aspect of the history of journalism
• John E. O’Connor Film Award, established 1993, for interpretations of history through the medium of film or video
• George L. Mosse Prize, established 2000, for a book on the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since 1500
• Helen & Howard R. Marraro Prize, established 1973, for best book in Italian history
• J. Russell Major Prize, established 2000, for best book in English on any aspect of French history
• Littleton-Griswold Prize, established 1966, for most distinguished book on US law and society, broadly defined
• Waldo G. Leland Prize, established 1991, for outstanding reference tool in the field of history
• Martin A. Klein Prize, established 2010, for most distinguished work of scholarship on African history
• Friedrich Katz Prize, established 2014, for the best book in Latin American and Caribbean history
• J. Franklin Jameson Award, established 1980,for outstanding achievement in the editing of historical primary sources
• Clarence H. Haring Prize, established 1966, for a Latin American with most outstanding book in Latin American
• William and Edwyna Gilbert Award, established 1995, for best article in a journal, magazine, or other serial on teaching history
• Leo Gershoy Award, established 1977, for work on any aspect of 17th- and 18th-century European history
• Morris D. Forkosch Prize, established 1993, for best book in British, British imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485
• John K. Fairbank Prize, established 1969, for outstanding book in Asian history after 1800
• John H. Dunning Prize, established 1929, for an outstanding monograph on any subject in US history
• Albert B. Corey Prize, established 1967, for the best book on Canadian-American relations or history of both countries
• James Henry Breasted Prize, established 1985, for any field of history prior to CE 1000
• Paul Birdsall Prize, established 1986, for European military and strategic history
• Albert J. Beveridge Award, established 1939, for history of US, Latin-America, or Canada 1492-present
• Jerry Bentley Prize, established 2014, for global or world-scale history
• George Louis Beer Prize, established 1923, for European international history since 1895
• Herbert Baxter Adams Prize, established 1907, for European history, ancient-1815

Figure 5. Distribution of American Historical Association Prize winners by gender 1886-2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from American Historical Association website (accessed January 2021).

Analysis of these awards by research output type shows that women are more likely to win awards for reference/teaching aids (61 per cent) and non-traditional research outputs (film/video, 44 per cent, and digital, 46 percent) than for articles (39 per cent) and books (31 per cent). Further analysis that separates the awards into research areas and service and teaching, further shows that women win more awards for teaching (37 per cent) and service (38 per cent) and non-national histories (58 per cent, including women’s history and/or feminist theory, United States law and society, intellectual and cultural history, Jewish diaspora or African diaspora history, and digital history) than for military history (6 per cent) or ‘distinguished scholarly achievement’ (27 per cent).

Figure 6. Distribution of American Historical Association Prize winners by gender 1886-2020 by research output type

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from American Historical Association website (accessed January 2021).

Figure 7. Distribution of American Historical Association Prize winners by gender 1886-2020 by field

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from American Historical Association website (accessed January 2021).

The Organization of American Historians also sponsors or cosponsors a number of awards, prizes, fellowships and grants given in recognition of scholarly and professional achievements in the field of American history. Two prizes are named for women historians and recognise women’s and gender history: the Darlene Clark Hine Award, established in 2010, for the best book in African American women's and gender history; and the Mary Nickliss Prize in U.S. Women's and/or Gender History, established in 2015. One man has won the Darlene Clark Hine Award. Other OAH awards include:

• Frederick Jackson Turner Award, established 1959, awarded to the author of a first scholarly book dealing with some aspect of American history.
• James A. Rawley Prize, established 1990, for the best book dealing with the history of race relations in the United States.
• David Montgomery Award, established 2014, for the best book on a topic in American labor and working-class history.
• Liberty Legacy Foundation Award, established 2003, for the best book by a historian on the civil rights struggle from the beginnings of the nation to the present.
• Lawrence W. Levine Award, established 2008, for the best book in American cultural history.
• Richard W. Leopold Prize, established 1984, for the best book on foreign policy, military affairs, historical activities of the federal government, documentary histories, or biography written by a U.S. government historian or federal contract historian.
• Ellis W. Hawley Prize, established 1997, for the best book-length historical study of the political economy, politics, or institutions of the United States, in its domestic or international affairs, from the Civil War to the present. 
• Merle Curti History Award, established 1977, for the best book in American social history and best book in intellectual history. (It is unclear from list whether both awards were made each year.)
• Binkley-Stephenson Award, established 1967, for the best article that appeared in the Journal of American History during the preceding calendar year.
• Ray Allen Billington Prize, established 1981, for the best book on the history of native and/or settler peoples in frontier, border, and borderland zones of intercultural contact in any century to the present including works that address the legacies of those zones.
• Willi Paul Adams Award, established 1994, for the best book on American history published in a foreign language.
• Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award (previously Avery O. Craven Award), established 1985, for the most original book on the coming of the Civil War, the Civil War years, or the Era of Reconstruction.

Figure 8. Distribution of Organization of American Historians award winners by gender, 1977-2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from Organization of American Historians website (accessed January 2021).

The Bancroft Prizes have been awarded annually by Columbia University in the City of New York since 1948. Two annual prizes of equal rank are awarded to the authors of distinguished works in either or both the categories of American history (including biography) and diplomacy. The prize comes with a stipend of USD$10,000 and it is regarded as a prestigious prize: 16 Bancroft Prize winners were also recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for History. Since 1948, 15 per cent of Bancroft Prizes have been awarded to women, however, 38 per cent of recipients have been women since 2009 which more closely correlates with women’s share of academic positions.

Notes on methodology

1. All counts were made from publicly available details on official websites.
2. Ambiguous names were checked through internet searching. The prevalence of initials made confirmation difficult, especially for more distant years.