Awards and Prizes

The History Department gives numerous competitive awards to outstanding students each spring, and will send out a call for applications.

Forrest W. Clonts Award for Excellence in History
This award is given to an outstanding history student each year; the judges consider academic achievement, intellectual engagement, and service to the department when choosing the recipient.

Forrest W. Clonts Research Prize in European History
Forrest W. Clonts was an alum of Wake Forest College, Class of 1920.  He taught European history at Wake Forest  from 1925 to 1967.

Chilton Pearson Research Prize in United States History
Charles Chilton Pearson was a professor of social sciences, including history, from 1916 to 1952 at Wake Forest College.  He specialized in the history of early Virginia.

W.J. Cash Award for Studies in Southern History
This award is given in honor of Wake Forest alum, journalist and author Wilbur Cash.  His book, The Mind of the South (1941) set the standard in the field of southern history and culture for decades.

Richard Worden Griffin Research Prize in Asian, African, or Latin American  History
Dr. Richard W. Griffin was a 1947 alum of Wake Forest who earned a Ph.D. in history and who endowed this research prize at his alma mater.

Stephen Vella Prize for Excellence in Writing This prize is awarded to an outstanding paper that is twenty pages or less and written for any history course beyond the 100 level.  It may be a research paper, historiographical paper, critical book review, or any other type of writing. Stephen Vella was a British historian in our department who died of cancer far too early in his career.

The David W. Hadley Prize for Historical Writing at the 100 Level was established in memory of Wake Forest Alum and Profess of History David W. Hadley. The History Department awards an annual prize for an outstanding paper written by a student in our divisional classes (HST 101 through HST 112). Professor Hadley specialized in English history and was instrumental in founding the study abroad program at the Worrell House in London.

Read more about the 2017 Paper Prize winners here!

List of Past Winners:

Forrest W. Clonts Award for Excellence in History

Forrest W. Clonts Research Prize in European History

David W. Hadley Prize for Historical Writing on the 100 Level

Chilton Pearson Research Prize in United States History

W.J. Cash Award for Studies in Southern History

Richard Worden Griffin Research Prize in Asian, African, or Latin American History

Stephen Vella Prize for Excellence in Writing