Awards

ACHA Awards & Prizes

Since its founding in 1919, recognizing outstanding scholarship has been one of the ACHA’s key missions. To that end, the Association has established several awards to honor the best research and writing in our field.
 
The pages in this section contain the complete rules and information for applying for these awards. In most cases, applications can be made online. If you have questions about any of the awards, the best point of contact is the chair of the prize committee for the award in question. 

Announced each fall and awarded at the Annual Meeting the following January, the Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes lifelong contributions to the field of Catholic studies.

Submission deadline: April 1, 2024

Announced each fall and awarded at the Annual Meeting the following January, the Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes lifelong contributions to the field of Catholic studies.

Awarded for the first time in 2024, the Robert F. Trisco and Nelson H. Minnich Prize honors outstanding editing of a work in Catholic Church History. 

Announced each fall and awarded at the Annual Meeting the following January, the Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding service to the field of Catholic studies.

The Presidential Graduate Student Travel Grant is awarded annually to a student or students presenting at the Annual or Spring Meetings. The grant is intended to offset travel expenses for the student. Any ACHA Student Member enrolled in a graduate program of study is eligible to apply. 

Submission period opens August 1, 2024.

The John Tracy Ellis Dissertation Award memorializes the scholarship and teaching of Monsignor Ellis (1905-1992). Its purpose is to assist a graduate student working on some aspect of the history of the Catholic Church.

Submission deadline: April 1, 2024

The ACHA has approved the creation of a new award recognizing a monograph that provides new and/or challenging insight to the study of U.S. Catholic history. We are currently in the process of funding the award and ask for your support to reach our funding goal.

Read on to learn more about Dr. Kauffman’s legacy and the new award we are establishing in his honor.

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The Cyprian Davis, O.S.B Prize recognizes works in progress that promise to make significant contributions to the study of the Black Catholic experience. The prize, established in the fall of 2020, is awarded in conjunction with the Cushwa Center at the University of Notre Dame.

Submission deadline: December 31, 2023

The Helen & Howard R. Marraro Prize is given annually to the author of a book that is judged by a committee of experts to be the most distinguished work dealing with Italian history or Italo-American history or relations that has been published in a preceding twelve-month period.

Submission deadline: May 15, 2024

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The ACHA Summer Research and Writing Grants are typically used to fund travel, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year we are encouraging the grant be used to support writing. We are also inviting contingent faculty to apply for the award, in addition to our usual audience of graduate students. 

Submission deadline: March 1, 2024

The John Gilmary Shea Prize is given annually to the author of a book, published during a preceding twelve-month period, which is judged by a committee of experts to have made the most original and distinguished contribution to knowledge of the history of the Catholic Church.

Submission deadline: April 1, 2024

The Peter Guilday Prize is awarded for a manuscript, accepted by the editor of the Catholic Historical Review, that is the author’s first scholarly publication. The award is decided by the editorial staff of the CHR from 

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