2020 Award Winners | Nomination Forms
Awards for 2021 Annual Conference, Virtual
Click on each winner’s name to view their picture.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Bill Gatewood – for his stewardship of one of Arkansas’s most important historic sites, the Old State House Museum
Rex Nelson – for his tireless promotion of Arkansas history through his newspaper column and other means
Pat Ramsey – for her decades of dedication to History Day
2021
Kenneth C. Barnes – For his extraordinary contribution to scholarship
Ann Early – For her leading role in Arkansas’s archeological and historical communities
Tom Dillard Advocacy Award
Jerry B. Hogan – for meeting the challenges facing the preservation of Washington County history
J. G. Ragsdale Book Award
Brooks Blevins – A History of the Ozarks, Volume 2: The Conflicted Ozarks
University of Illinois Press – publisher of this year’s Ragsdale Book Award
James H. Atkinson Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Arkansas History
Ricky Manes– of Fulbright Junior High, Bentonville
Lucille Westbrook Award
Michael Anthony – for his outstanding contribution to Arkansas history in his essay “‘Otherwise You Will Have to Suffer the Consequences’: The Catcher Race Riot of 1923”
Violet B. Gingles Award
Revis Edmonds – for his outstanding contribution to Arkansas history with his essay “Academic Freedom and Arkansas Culture: Three Modern Controversies”
NEARA Award – (NorthEast Arkansas Regional Archives in Powhatan)
James L. Foster & Billy W. Beason Award
Tess Evans – for her outstanding contribution to Arkansas history with her dissertation “From Native Ground to Underground: Political & Rival Cultural Landscapes at the Arkansas Post, 1686-1850” (Dissertation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
WALTER L. BROWN COUNTY AND LOCAL JOURNAL AWARDS
Walter L. Brown Award for the Best County or Local Journal
The Stream of History Robert D. Craig, Editor
Honorable Mention for next best county of local historical publication
Independence County Chronicle George Lankford, Editor
Best Use of Graphics in a journal
The Record Liz Robbins, Editor
Best Article in a County or Local Journal
Cherisse Jones-Branch, “Pickens W. Black, Sr.: The Baron of Blackville, Ark., 1861-1955,” The Stream of History, Jackson County Historical Society
Best Biography, Autobiography, or Memoir History
Josuha Cobbs Youngblood, “‘Miss Lessie’ Was There: Fayetteville’s Renowned Organizer and Newspaper Woman, Lessie Stringfellow Read”, Flashback, Washington County Historical Society
Best Family History
Dan Durning, “Pulaski County’s German-Bohemian Emigrants from Asch: The Geyer, Reichart, and Penzel Families, 1848-1861,” in Pulaski County Historical Review, Pulaski County Historical Society
Best Church History
Lindsey J. Irvin, “Through the Decades: Grant County Churches,” in Grassroots, Grant County Museum
Best Community History
Caroline Speir, “From Cuba to Fort Chaffee: The ‘Marielitos’ in Arkansas,” The Journal, Fort Smith Historical Society
Best School History
Glenda Campbell Frank, “Nostalgia About Hurie Schools,” The Journal, Johnson County Historical Society
Best Business History
Jim Lynch, “John Sobotka, Little Rock’s Bohemian Broom Maker,” The Pulaski County Historical Review, Pulaski County Historical Society
Best Edited Document
David Sesser, “‘We saw a beautiful town,’ Union Soldiers’ Impressions of Arkadelphia during the Camden Expedition,” Clark County Historical Journal, Clark County Historical Association
Best Newsletter
White County Historical Society News, Shelly Churchwell, Editor