Jon Gjerde Prize
The Jon Gjerde Prize is given annually by the Midwestern History Association to the author(s) of the best book in Midwestern history published during the previous calendar year (2025). The prize is named for the late historian of immigration and ethnicity, who made significant contributions to the historical understanding of American history, especially the history of the people of the Midwest.
The MHA is pleased to invite nominations from authors and publishers for this year's Jon Gjerde Prize, given to the best book on midwestern history published during the previous year (2025). Nominations should be emailed as ebooks or postmarked by Jan.15, 2026 to committee members listed below.
The MHA is pleased to invite nominations from authors and publishers for this year's Jon Gjerde Prize, given to the best book on midwestern history published during the previous year (2025). Nominations should be emailed as ebooks or postmarked by Jan.15, 2026 to committee members listed below. Please direct questions or inquiries to chairperson Dr. Dustin Gann. The Gjerde prize now comes with a $1,000 honorarium and will be announced at the annual MHA conference convening this year at Miami University of Ohio April 30-May 1.
Dr. Dustin Gann
One University Plaza, MS 2960
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
Dr. Erik McDuffie
1201 W. Nevada St. M/C 143
Urbana, IL 61801
Dr. Brittany Fremion
1405 Crestwood Dr.
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858
Please direct questions or inquiries to chairperson Dr. Dustin Gann (dustin.gann at gmail dot com). The Gjerde prize now comes with a $1,000 honorarium and will be announced at the annual MHA conference convening this year at Miami University of Ohio, April 30-May 1.
Past Recipients
2024 - Erik S. McDuffie, The Second Battle for Africa: Garveyism, the US Heartland, and Global Black Freedom https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-second-battle-for-africa
Honorable Mention - Sergio González's, Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging & Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p087943
2023 - R. Douglas Hurt, Agriculture in the Midwest, 1815-1900 https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496233493/agriculture-in-the-midwest-18151900/
2022 - Jon Lauck, The Good Country https://www.oupress.com/9780806190648/the-good-country/
2021 - Samantha Seeley, Race, Removal and the Right to Remain https://uncpress.org/book/9781469664811/race-removal-and-the-right-to-remain/
2020 - Joseph Stanhope Cialdella Motor City Green https://upittpress.org/books/9780822945727/
2019 - Lauren Kroitz Cultivating Citizens: The Regional Work of Art in the New Deal Era https://www.ucpress.edu/books/cultivating-citizens/hardcover#awards
2018 - Christopher Phillips, The Rivers Ran Backwards, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rivers-ran-backward-9780195187236?cc=us&lang=en&
2017 - Andrew Diamond, Chicago on the Make https://www.ucpress.edu/books/chicago-on-the-make/paper#awards
2016 - Jason Weems, Barnstorming the Prairies https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816677511/barnstorming-the-prairies/
2015 - Brenda Child, My Grandfather's Knocking Sticks, https://shop.mnhs.org/products/my-grandfathers-knocking-sticks
Photo by Cory Haala