Guidelines

The Center for Archival Collections is accepting submissions for the Local History Publication Award. Works published between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023 will be accepted.  

The Center for Archival Collections seeks to encourage and recognize authors for outstanding publications in the field of Local History.  For this award Local History is geographically defined as the nineteen counties within the Center’s collecting scope (Allen, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot) The Firelands, and Maumee Valley Region.

Categories

Articles

The Article category will consider scholarly articles, single blog posts, essays, and newsletter articles or columns. Submissions should have a maximum of 10,000 words and may be published in electronic or print formats.

Books

The Book category will consider monographs in either electronic or print formats.

Divisions

Both categories will recognize authors for outstanding publications in two divisions. The Professional Division will include works prepared and submitted by authors who exclusively or primarily make their living as a scholar and/or writer. The Independent Division will include works prepared and submitted by independent or local researchers, amateurs, and other creative writers who do not claim history as a profession.  Each Division winner will receive a $300.00 cash award and plaque.

Qualifications

1. The awards will be given for works of either general or specific subject interests (i.e. Native American history, prehistoric, territorial and early statehood, War of 1812, Civil War, business history, women’s history, labor history, family history, historic preservation, rural agricultural history, Great Lakes maritime (Ohio) history, or biography).
2. Any work submitted for the awards must have been copyrighted or published in the past year preceding the year in which the award is given.
3. Works shall be judged by the Awards Committee on: literary merit, overall significance and contribution to explaining and understanding the history of the above described region. Consideration also will be given for style and content. Other considerations will include grammar, accuracy, illustrations, layout, indexes, and distribution.
4. The Awards Committee and the Center for Archival Collections reserves the right not to present the awards during any given year.

Submission Guidelines

1. Authors should send two copies of each work to:
   Center for Archival Collections
   Jerome Library, 5th Floor
   Bowling Green State University
   Bowling Green, Ohio 43403-0175
   
   The two copies become the property of The Center for Archival Collections. Submissions are due by February 29, 2024.
2. In addition to mailing your work, please fill out this online form.
   
3. Textbooks, guidebooks, manuals, craft books, works of fiction, newspaper articles, and genealogies composed principally of genealogical charts are NOT eligible for consideration.
4. If you have questions about these guidelines, please contact us.