The American Society of Church History fosters and honors
outstanding scholarship through five prestigious prizes.
For information about the prize nomination process, see the bottom of this page.
Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize – $2,500
The Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize annually honors outstanding scholarship in the history of Christianity by a first-time author.
Deadline for Nominations: April 15.
Dr. Laura Saetveit Miles (University of Bergen), The Virgin Mary's Book at the Annunciation: Reading, Interpretation, and Devotion in Medieval England (Boydell and Brewer, 2020)
The Albert C. Outler Prize -- $2500
The Albert C. Outler Prize annually honors the best book, published in the prior calendar year, that illumines the diversity of global Christianity, issues of Christian unity and disunity (doctrinal, cultural, institutional), and/or the interactions between Christianity and other religions, in any period and area of the history of Christianity.
Deadline for Nominations: April 15.
Dr. Laura Dierksmeier (University of Tübingen), Charity For And By The Poor: Franciscan-Indigenous Confraternities in Mexico, 1527-1700 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2020)
Philip Schaff Prize – $5,000
This prize annually honors the best book in the history of Christianity by a North American scholar published in the prior calendar year.
Deadline for Nominations: April 15.
Dr. Hillary Kaell (McGill University), Christian Globalism at Home: Child Sponsorship in the United States (Princeton University Press, 2020)
Sidney E. Mead Prize – $500 and publication in Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture
The Sidney E. Mead Prize is granted to an advanced graduate student or recent PhD for the best unpublished article stemming from dissertation research that contributes significantly to its field and to the history of Christianity more broadly. The article will be published in Church History.
Deadline for Nominations: May 15.
Samuel Young (Baylor University) for the article "Waldensianism Before Waldo: The Myth of Apostolic Proto-Protestantism in Antebellum American Anti-Catholicism."
Jane Dempsey Douglass Prize – $500
The Jane Dempsey Douglass Prize honors the best essay on women in the history of Christianity published in the previous calendar year.
Deadline for Nominations: April 15, for essays published in the prior calendar year.
Awarded every other year. Please submit nominations for 2023!
Dr. Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame), "Women Priests at Barking Abbey in the Late Middle Ages," published in Women Intellectuals and Leaders in the Middle Ages (D.S. Brewer, 2020)
Prize Nomination Process
Eligibility
- All works must be nominated in order to be eligible for ASCH prizes. Authors may nominate their own works.
- All nominees must be active, dues-paying members of the ASCH in order to have their work reviewed by the Research and Prize Committee.
- Books, essays, and articles may only be nominated once for these awards; nominations will not be accepted in successive years. Please read the prize criteria carefully before nominating a work for that prize.
How To Nominate a Work For Consideration by the Research and Prize Committee
- To nominate a book for the Schaff, Outler, or Brewer Prize, please use this form.
- To nominate an article for the Jane Dempsey Douglass Prize, please email a copy of the article, along with publication information, and contact information for the author, to asch@churchhistory.org
- To nominate an essay for the Sidney E. Mead Prize, email a copy of the article, along with contact information for the author, to the Senior Assistant to the Editors of Church History at churchhistory@umn.edu.
Review Process
- Nominations will be acknowledged by email by either the Office of the Executive Secretary or the Senior Assistant to the Editors.
- Shortly after the deadline for each prize nomination, the Executive Secretary will contact the presses that published works under consideration, with a list of addresses to which to send the works.
NOTE: DO NOT SHIP ANY BOOKS TO ASCH PRIOR TO RECEIVING A LIST OF SHIPPING ADDRESSES FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY'S OFFICE. BOOKS SHIPPED PRIOR TO THIS SOLICITATION WILL NEED TO BE RE-SENT BY THEIR PUBLISHERS.