Awards

Each year the Arizona History Convention presents the following awards.  If you are interested in underwriting an award, please contact us at infor@arizonahistory.org.

Barry M. Goldwater Award  

Sponsored by Heidi Osselaer

A panel of judges will award a $500 prize for the best convention paper on Arizona history.  All accepted papers (except those by college students) are eligible.     

Valeen T. Avery Collegiate Award  

A $250 prize goes to the best paper on an Arizona topic by a college or junior college student (graduate or undergraduate) and the conference registration fee will be waived.  Please indicate the advising professor and institution on the proposal and completed paper.     

Don Bufkin Prize  

A $250 prize goes to the best paper dealing with the territorial period of Arizona history. Papers dealing with geography, broadly defined, or cartography are particularly encouraged.  Students and non-students are eligible.    

Bruce J. Dinges Award

Sponsored by the Tucson Corral of Westerners 

A $250 prize goes to the outstanding podium presentation, as judged by members of the Tucson Corral of Westerners. The Corral hopes that the recipient’s work will appear in a future issue of its publication “Smoke Signal.”

National History Day in Arizona Award

Sponsored by the Arizona Historical Society 

Each year the Arizona Historical Society recognizes the top papers on Arizona History in the junior and senior division at the National History Day in Arizona competition.  The winners of these awards and an adult will be given free registration to attend the subsequent Arizona History Convention and given the opportunity to present if they wish.  For more information about National History Day, visit: https://arizonahistoricalsociety.org/education/national-history-day-arizona/  

The deadline for submitting papers for prize consideration is March 1, 2023. To be considered for a conference award, all final papers submitted must be original scholarship with primary and secondary sources cited in footnotes and should not have been delivered at a scholarly meeting or published prior to the 2023 Arizona History Convention.

The Arizona State History Convention, Inc., a 501(c)(3), is funded solely by donations, grants, and registration fees. 

John Mack is this year’s recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Award for his presentation: “Inside and Out: The Sisters of St. Joseph, Chief Pasqual, and the Yuma Indian School, 1886-87.” 

Thomas Moy is this year’s winner of the Don Bufkin Prize, for: “Solving a Riddle: Uncovering Chinese Monopoly of Tombstone Laundry Industry.”