The Department of History Announces the
Annual Essay Prize Awards for 2013 - the winners are in!

Prize Award Papers will be collected beginning Mid-March, 2013 for the 2013 winners based on papers written during the calendar year 2012. Click here for submission guidelines.

Dewey Grantham Award

Named for the late Professor Dewey Grantham, this award is presented to the best Honors Thesis in the History Department each year since Spring 1997. The selected author will receive $500. To see all of the past winners click here.
2013 Winner: Helen Li, “Culture Card: The Beijing Olympics and the Politics of Mega-Events,” (Figal, Rogaski, Ramsey).

Frank A. Woods Award

Announcing the Frank A. Woods Award in History, a new undergraduate prize. Mr. James Lachs, PB '93 established this award in honor of Frank A. Woods, BA'63, LLB '66. A certificate, and $500, will be given to a graduating senior in the College of Arts and Science who is majoring in History and has the highest grade point average.
2013 Winner: Richard Lee Williams

Henry Lee Swint Award

Each spring, the Department of History awards $500 to the author of the best research paper or essay in any field of history completed during the previous calendar year.  This competition is open only to undergraduate history majors and excludes History honors theses.  The papers must have been completed for a Vanderbilt history course during the calendar year 2012 (Spring, Summer, Fall 2012 terms). 
2013 Winner: Mallory Hope, "The Failure of the Constitutional Monarchy in France: Louis' Enduring Popularity and his Fall from Grace in 1791."
Originally written for Lauren Clay, History 231, France: Renaissance to Revolution.

      Paul K. Conkin Award

Each spring, the Department of History awards $500 to the author of the best paper in U.S. history completed during the previous calendar year.  This competition is open to all undergraduate students but excludes History honors theses.  The papers must have been completed for a Vanderbilt history course during the calendar year 2012 (Spring, Summer, Fall 2012 terms).    
2013 Winner: Amanda Carol Kent, "The Morality of Wine: Christian Support and Opposition of Wine's Inclusion in the National Prohibition Act."
Originally written for Leor Halevi, History 288A, Religion, Culture and Trade

Samuel T. McSeveney Award

Each spring, the Department of History awards $500 to the author of the best research paper or essay written for a freshman history seminar (History 115F.  The papers must have been completed for a Vanderbilt History 115F course during the calendar year 2012 (Spring, Summer, Fall 2012 terms).  We would like to acknowledge the generosity of Jeanne Geldson Adams for funding this award over the next five years (2012-2017).  
2013 There are two winners:
Luis Carlos Calderon G., "Existentialism in the Algerian War."
Originally written for Lauren Clay, History 115F, European Imperialism.
and,
Selden Hunnicutt, "Falling Short: The Origins of the Peace Corps and Its True Purpose for America."
Originally written for Thomas Schwartz, History 115F, Potsdam to Vietnam