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AJHA Awards

Kobre | Book Award | Distinguished Service to Journalism History | Excellence in Teaching | Local Journalist Award

The Margaret Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize

Deadline for entries (postmark date): February 1, 2011.

The AJHA Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize, given for the first time in 1997, is awarded annually for the best doctoral dissertation dealing with mass communication history. An honorarium of $500 accompanies the prize, and a $200 honorarium is awarded to each honorable mention.

Eligible works shall include both quantitative and qualitative historical dissertations, written in English, which have been completed between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2010. For the purposes of this award, a "completed" work is defined as one which has not only been submitted and defended but also revised and filed in final form at the applicable doctoral-degree-granting university by December 31, 2009.

To be considered, nomination packets must include:

(a) One copy of the complete dissertation;
(b) Four copies each of the following items, with all author, school, and dissertation committee identification of any kind whited-out:
            (i.) a single chapter from the dissertation [preferably not to exceed 50 manuscript pages, not including notes, charts or photographs],
            (ii.) a 200-word dissertation abstract,
            (iii.) the dissertation table of contents;
(c) a letter of nomination from the dissertation chair/director or the chair of the university department in which the dissertation was written;
(d) a cover letter from the nominee indicating a willingness, should the dissertation be selected for a prize, both to attend the awarding ceremony and to deliver a public presentation based on the dissertation at the 2011 American Journalism Historians Association Annual Convention, 5-8 October 2011 in Kansas City, MO.

Note: Regarding Paragraph (b.)(i.) above, as a guide to selecting a chapter for submission, the Award Committee has in the past expressed a preference for a chapter which, if possible, highlights the work's strengths as a piece of primary-sourced original research.

Nominations, along with all the supporting materials, should be sent to:

Prof. David Abrahamson, Chair
AJHA Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize Committee
Medill School of Journalism
Northwestern University
1845 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL  60208.

The deadline for entries is a postmark date of February 1, 2011.


Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize
Convention Program Archives

(.pdf downloads of complete program literature)

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Roster of Past Winners

2009 Richard K. Popp, "Magazines, Marketing and the Construction of Travel in Postwar United States"; Director: Carolyn Kitch, Temple University
2008 Noah Arceneaux, "Department Stores and the Origins of American Broadcasting, 1910-1931"; Director: James Hamilton, University of Georgia
2007 Michael Stamm, "Mixed Media: Newspaper Ownership of Radio in American Politics and Culture, 1920-1952"; Director: Neil Harris, University of Chicago.
2006 Stacy Spaulding, “Lisa Sergio: How Mussolini’s ‘Golden Voice’ of Propaganda Created an American Mass Communication Career”; Director: Maurine Beasley, University of Maryland
2005 Pete Smith, “‘It’s Your America’: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929-1956”; Director: Arthur J. Kaul, University of Southern Mississippi
2004 Guy Reel, "The Wicked World: The National Police Gazette, Richard K. Fox, and the Making of the Modern American Man, 1879-1906"; Director: Patrick S. Washburn, Ohio University
2003 Mark Feldstein, "Watergate's Forgotten Investigative Reporter: The Battle Between Columnist Jack Anderson and President Richard Nixon"; Director: Margaret A. Blanchard, University of North Carolina
2002 Marc Edge, "Pacific Press: Vancouver’s Newspaper Monopoly, 1957-1991"; Director: Patrick Washburn, Ohio University
2001 Aleen J. Ratzlaff, "Black Press Pioneers in Kansas: Connecting and Extending Communities in Three Geographic Sections, 1878-1900"; Director: Bernell E. Tripp, University of Florida
2000 Dale Zacher, "Editorial Policy of the Scripps Newspapers During World War I"; Director: Patrick Washburn, Ohio University
1999 Nora Hall, "On Being an African-American Woman: Gender and Race in the Writings of Six Black Women Journalists, 1849-1936"; Director: Hazel Dicken-Garcia, University of Minnesota
1998 David R. Davies, “An Industry in Transition: Major Trends in American Daily Newspapers, 1945-1965”; Director: David Sloan, Univ of Alabama
1997 Julie Hedgepeth Williams, “The Significance of the Printed Word in Early America”; Director: David Sloan, University of Alabama


The Sidney Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism History

The organization's highest honor recognizes individuals with an exemplary record of sustained achievement in journalism history through teaching, research, professional activities, or other contributions to the field of journalism history. Award winners need not be members of the AJHA. Nominations for the award are solicited annually, but the award need not be given every year. Those making nominations for the award should present, at the minimum, a cover letter that explains the nominee's contributions to the field as well as a vita or brief biography of the nominee.

Nominations are due by May 1, 2010, and should be submitted to:

Mike Conway
Indiana University
School of Journalism
Ernie Pyle Hall, Rm. 200
940 E. 7th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405

mtconway@indiana.edu
812/856-1371

The AJHA Book of the Year Award

Recognizes the best in journalism history or mass media history published during calendar year. The book must have been granted a first-time copyright in 2009. Entrants should submit four copies of their books to the book award coordinator by March 31, 2010.

Send materials to:

Aimee Edmondson
Ohio University
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
204 Scripps Hall
Athens, Ohio 45701

edmondso@ohio.edu
740.597.3336


Distinguished Service to Journalism History Award

Recognizes practical journalists who through their work have made a contribution in some way to journalism history. Nominations for the award are solicited annually, but the award need not be given every year.

Nominating letters and supporting materials should be submitted by May 1, 2010, to:

Mike Conway
Indiana University
School of Journalism
Ernie Pyle Hall, Rm. 200
940 E. 7th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405

mtconway@indiana.edu
812/856-1371

The Kobre, AJHA Book Award and AJHA History Award each will be given at AJHA's annual convention.


AJHA National Award for Excellence in Teaching

Deadline for entries (postmark date): July 15, 2010.

The annual AJHA Award for Excellence in Teaching honors a college or university teacher who excels at teaching in the areas of journalism and mass communication history, makes a positive impact on student learning, and offers an outstanding example for other educators.

An honorarium of $500 accompanies the prize.

Eligibility: A nominee may be tenured or untenured, and should hold either a full- or part-time appointment at a college or university that confers an associate, baccalaureate or higher degree in journalism, mass communication, communication studies, or history as of the submission due date. All nominees must have responsibility for teaching the history of journalism and mass communication either as a stand-alone course or as part of a broader course.

Nomination packets must include:

  • Curriculum vitae
  • Statement of teaching philosophy (no more than 2 pages)
  • A syllabus from a favorite course (must be mass comm. history-related)
  • Sample assignment and/or sample lecture
  • Teaching evaluations (summary tables, previous 2 years if untenured; 4 years if tenured).
    Written peer and/or tenured faculty reviews of teaching may also be included.
  • Letters of support - one from each level:
    • Administrator (dean/chair)
    • Colleague
    • Former student (be sure to indicate the relationship of the individual to the nominee and institution, e.g., is the individual currently a graduate student in the nominee’s department?)

Send to:

Barbara Friedman
Chair, AJHA Education Committee
University of North Carolina
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
CB 3365
Chapel Hill NC 27599

Questions may be directed to bfriedman@unc.edu.


Outstanding Local Journalist Award for Substantial Contributions to the Public Interest

The American Journalism Historians Association annually bestows its Local Journalist Award to recognize the work of a journalist in the region of the AJHA’s annual convention. Past winners have included Mark Trahant, editor of the editorial page at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Lynn Brooks, news director for WVUA-7 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.