Book Prizes

Book Prizes

The Institute sponsors four book prizes annually recognizing the best books of the year in their respective fields:

  • Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize
  • Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize
  • George Washington Prize
  • Frederick Douglass Book Prize


Images clockwise from top left: Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner, 1863 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC00245); Americans Will Always Fight for Liberty World War II recruiting poster, 1943 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC09520.37); George Washington by Rembrandt Peale, ca. 1846 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 24.109.86); Frederick Douglass, by an unidentified photographer, ca. 1870 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC06198)

A collage of images, featuring portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, George Washington, and a US Office of War poster.

About

The Institute sponsors four book prizes annually. Each recognizes the best book of the year in its field. A jury of leading scholars evaluates the entries and presents the top choices to the prize’s board for final selection. The winner is honored at an award ceremony, providing an opportunity for the public, including teachers and students, to hear the author speak.

We always welcome submissions of books that bear a copyright date in the current year and that conform to the criteria described below. A book that meets the eligibility criteria of multiple prizes may be submitted to each that it qualifies for.

To inquire about submitting or suggesting books for consideration, please contact bookprizes@gilderlehrman.org.

Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize

The prize is awarded to the finest scholarly work in English on Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War soldier, or the American Civil War era.

The cover of the book COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War by Edda L Fields-Black

2025 Laureate: COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black

Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize

The award recognizes the best book on American military history in English distinguished by its scholarship, its contribution to the literature, and its appeal to the broadest possible general reading public.

The cover of the book Supremacy At Sea by Evan Mawdsley.

2024 Winner: Supremacy at Sea: Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory by Evan Mawdsley

George Washington Prize

The prize recognizes the year’s best works on the nation’s founding era, especially those that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of American history.

The cover of the book Serpent In Eden by Tyson Reeder.

2025 Winner: Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America by Tyson Reeder

Frederick Douglass Book Prize

The prize is awarded to an outstanding non-fiction book in English published on the subject of slavery, resistance, and/or abolition.

The cover of the book Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution by Marlene L. Daut
The cover of the book Encyclopédie noire: The Making of Moreau de Saint-Méry's Intellectual World by Sara E. Johnson

2024 Winners: Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution by Marlene L. Daut and Encyclopédie Noire: The Making of Moreau de Saint-Méry’s Intellectual World by Sarah E. Johnson