For over seventy years, AASLH has presented the Leadership in History Awards to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful to all people. Nominations for the 2019 Awards are now open. The deadline for applications is March 1.

By publicly recognizing superior and innovative achievements, Leadership in History Award winners serve as models and inspirations for others in the field. AASLH offers awards for many different types of projects, including publications, exhibits, public programming, and more. Award winners come from all over the country, from organizations of all kinds, sizes, and budgets.

Nominations may be submitted for the newly named Award of Excellence presented to recognize excellence for projects and individual lifetime achievement. This is the main award for which applicants nominate projects or people.

AASLH also presents the Award of Distinction, a higher-level personal award given infrequently and only in recognition of long and very distinguished individual service. Recipients are noted for their contributions to the field of state and local history and are recognized nationally as leaders in the profession. To nominate an individual for this award, please submit a Preliminary Nomination by January 31.

The Awards Committee may also choose to select candidates from the Award of Excellence winners for additional recognition. You do not apply for these awards directly.

  • The Albert B. Corey Award recognizes primarily volunteer-operated historical organizations that best display the qualities of vigor, scholarship, and imagination in their work. Regional chairs may recommend any primarily volunteer organization that is nominated for the Award of Excellence. This is an award made at the discretion of the Awards Committee.
  • The Awards Committee also presents the History in Progress (HIP) Award, a special additional award for an Award of Excellence winner whose nomination is highly inspirational, exhibits exceptional scholarship, and/or is exceedingly entrepreneurial in terms of funding, partnerships, or collaborations, creative problem-solving, or unusual project design and inclusiveness. This is an award made at the discretion of the Awards Committee.

AASLH encourages organizations and individuals to nominate or self-apply for the national Leadership in History Awards.  A nominee does not have to be an AASLH member to apply and self-nominations are encouraged (except for the individual lifetime achievement category). It will take some time to gather the necessary materials for your nomination, so we recommend getting started a few months ahead of the March 1 deadline.

For more information, please contact us or go to https://aaslh.org/programs/leadership-in-history-awards/.