American Journalism Historians Association

AJHA's highest honor, the Kobre Award, 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.

This year's honoree is John Maxwell Hamilton of Louisiana State University, known for his extensive work on foreign respondents. Hamilton is the Hopkins P. Breazeale Professor of Journalism at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication and a global scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Read more about his accomplishments in the AJHA press release.

Hamilton will be recognized during the Awards Lunch at the AJHA conference.

National Award for Excellence in Teaching

Presented at the annual Awards Luncheon, the National 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.

This year's winner is Erin Coyle, an associate professor of journalism at Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. The committee praised Coyle's use of primary sources in her classrooms, and her care for students during times of crisis.

Coyle will be recognized during the Awards Lunch at the AJHA conference. Read the news release.

AJHA Book of the Year Award

AJHA's Book of the Year Award recognizes the best book in journalism history or mass media history published during the previous calendar year.

This year's winner is James West for his book, "A House for the Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago." As one judge described, this book “breaks new ground by telling the history of the Black press in Chicago through its geography and architecture. In highly segregated Chicago—a city known for its architectural might and height—the structural presence of Black newspapers tells a significant story about the Black press generally.”

West is a lecturer in Arts and Sciences at University College London and codirector of the Black Press Research Collective at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of three books, most recently "Our Kind of Historian: The Work and Activism of Lerone Bennett Jr."

Three authors earned honorable mention for their books:

David Goodman and Joy Elizabeth Hayes, “New Deal Radio: The Educational Radio Projec”
Jon Marshall, “Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis”
Kathryn J. McGarr, "City of Newsmen: Public Lies and Professional Secrets in Cold War Washington"

The award will be presented during the book award panel. Read the news release.

Margaret A. Blanchard Dissertation Prize

Since 1997, AJHA has presented the Blanchard Prize for the best doctoral dissertation dealing with mass communication history completed during the prior calendar year.

This year's winner is Molly Thacker, Georgetown University under the direction of Katherine Benton-Cohen, was recognized for “‘Are We Not Children, Too?’: Race, Media, and the Formative History of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children in the United States.”

The committee named three honorable mentions: Autumn Lorimer Linford, Natascha Toft Roelsgaard, and Ashley Walter. Honorees will discuss their work in a special conference session, Friday, Sept. 29.

Read the news release.

American Journalism Rising Scholar Award

Editors of AJHA's quarterly academic journal American Journalism present the Rising Scholar Award at the annual General Business Meeting to recognize the achievements and potential of an untenured scholar who shows promise in extending her or his research agenda.

This year's winner is Jason Lee Guthrie of Clayton State University, whose research combines media and music histories. Read more about his research and the award in the AJHA press release.

The award comes with $2,000 in research funding.

Best American Journalism Article

The Best Article Award honors research published in American Journalism within the last year that is original, rigorous, and makes an outstanding contribution to developing scholarship in the field of journalism and mass communication history.

This year's winner is Gerry Lanosga, an associate professor and director of journalism at the Indiana University (Bloomington) Media School. Lanosga’s article, “‘Behold the Wicked Abominations That They Do’: The Nineteenth-Century Roots of the Evidentiary Approach in American Investigative Journalism,” was published in the Fall 2022 issue of American Journalism. Read more about his win here.

The editors of American Journalism will present the award during the annual General Business Meeting.

Inaugural Hazel Dicken-Garcia Research Grant

The Hazel Dicken-Garcia Research Grant provides $1,000 grants for researchers who share the scholarly interests of Dicken-Garcia.

Autumn Lorimer Linford won the inaugural Hazel Dicken-Garcia Research Grant, which will support her work looking at female newsies.

Read more about her research in the AJHA press release.

Joseph McKerns Research Grants

Joseph McKerns Research Grants provide funding of up to $1,250 per person for media history research projects while recognizing and rewarding the winners.

The 2023 winners are Natascha Toft Roelsgaard, Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen, Phil Glende, and Jason Guthrie.

Research Paper Awards

During the general business meeting, the AJHA will give out the following research awards for top papers at the Columbus convention.

Wm. David Sloan Top Faculty Paper

Winner: W. Joseph Campbell, American University, “Interrogating a ‘Conspiracy’: About That Civil War Press ‘Boycott’ of General Meade”

Honorable mentions:

Lisa Parcell and Paul Myers, Wichita State, “Coming in the Back Door: Women’s Entry into Advertising Through the Brand Test Kitchen”

Brian Carroll, Berry College, “Transgressions: An Editor's Crusade to Thwart America's First Black Shakespearean Acting Company”

J. William Snorgrass Memorial Award for the Outstanding Paper on a Minorities Topic

Winner: Brian Carroll, Berry College, “Transgressions: An Editor's Crusade to Thwart America's First Black Shakespearean Acting Company”

Honorable mention: Yvonne Cantrell-Bickley, Georgia, “In Labor? Come Back on Wednesday: News Coverage of the Integration of Atlanta's Public Hospital”

Maurine Beasley Award For the Outstanding Paper on a Women’s History Topic

Winner: Lisa Parcell and Paul Myers, Wichita State, “Coming in the Back Door: Women’s Entry into Advertising Through the Brand Test Kitchen”

Honorable mention: Bailey Dick, Bowling Green State, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Women: Descriptions of Women Journalists in Historical Studies 1974-2023”

Wally Eberhard Award for Outstanding Paper on Media and War

Winner: W. Joseph Campbell, American, “Interrogating a ‘Conspiracy’: About That Civil War Press ‘Boycott’ of General Meade”

Robert Lance Memorial Award for Top Grad Student Paper

Winner: Yvonne Cantrell-Bickley, Georgia, “In Labor? Come Back on Wednesday: News Coverage of the Integration of Atlanta's Public Hospital”

Honorable mention: Karlin Andersen Tuttle, Pennsylvania State, “‘A Friend and Lifeline’: A History of Christian Feminist Magazine Daughters of Sarah, 1974-1996”

Jean Palmegiano Award for Outstanding International/Transnational Journalism Research

Winner: Erin Coyle, Elisabeth Fondren and Annette Masterson, Temple University, “‘The Throttling of the Free Press in Cuba’: Exploring Transnational Journalism and Sigma Delta Chi's Advocacy for Press Freedom in Cuba (1956-1962)”

Honorable mention: Tom Mascaro, Bowling Green State, “NBC White Paper: The Castro Connection - Too Dense for an Ephemeral Broadcast but Stunning Documentary History Informing Reagan's Central America Policy”

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