Varies
Avg. Amount Awarded
197
Days
October 1 2025
Application Deadline
N/A
Renewable
Apply Now
What you'll need:
  • Checkmark Other - Book and non-book entry; Verification of employment; Letter of explanation
  • Checkmark Application Form
  • Checkmark Application Form May Be Submitted By Mail
Apply Now
Richard W. Leopold Prize

Description

The Richard W. Leopold Prize is given biennially by the Organization of American Historians to historical scholarship that focuses on America and the world, military affairs, historical activities of the federal government, documentary histories, or biography created by a U.S. government historian or federal contract historian. Eligible projects can be books or edited volumes, but they can also include other forms of historical scholarship and documentation including public history projects, exhibitions, podcasts, documentary film, and digital history projects. We invite entries that explore the multiple forms of engagement in the spheres of America in the world and US military history or address the diversity of federal government activities and of biographical subjects. Each entry must be published, uploaded, or installed during the two-year period January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025. The entrants must have been employed as a full-time historian or federal contract historian in a U.S. government agency or museum for a minimum of five years prior to the submission. If the author has accepted an academic position, retired, or otherwise left federal service, the submission must have been created within two years of their separation date. If a book carries a copyright date that is different from the publication date, but the actual publication date falls during the correct time frame making it eligible, please include a letter of explanation from the publisher with each copy of the book sent to the committee members. For nonbook entries, appropriate documentation of the project along with evidence that it was publicly available from October 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2026, should be sent to each member of the committee. Please mail submissions to the committee members: Elizabeth Charles, Chair; Christian Ostermann; and Jacqueline Whitt. Please visit the award's website or contact the Organization of American Historians for more information.

How to Apply

What you'll need:

  • Checkmark Other - Book and non-book entry; Verification of employment; Letter of explanation
  • Checkmark Application Form
  • Checkmark Application Form May Be Submitted By Mail
Contact Elizabeth Charles
Chair, Richard W. Leopold Prize
lizziecharles@gmail.com
Tel: 812-855-7311 Address Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, Potomac Annex/Navy Hill
SA-4D, Bldg. 1, 2300 E St NW
Washington, DC 20372