2026 American Battlefield Trust Prize for History Nominations
Envisioned as an initiative to raise awareness of the Trust and its mission to protect important historical landscapes, the American Battlefield Trust Prize for History is intended to encourage authors and creators of popular history to publish or create works that mirror these goals and to showcase the rich research potential of historic battlefields as primary sources. We seek to reward sound scholarship, excellent writing, original thinking and appeals to a broad readership. Associating the Trust brand with widely read books and other media that are relevant to the mission will introduce the pressing need for preservation of battlefields to audiences already interested in American history. Our hope is to galvanize readers of history to action on behalf of these threatened sites.
Judging Criteria
The award will be made annually to a book published in the previous calendar year, although exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the Board of Trustees. The winner of the award must (1) be a properly researched work of serious military history or biography, (2) tell the American story honestly and in its historic context, (3) be readable, entertaining, and therefore accessible to the widest possible audience and (4) underscore the essential role of the nation’s military conflicts on the founding, formation and perpetuation of our exceptional country. For the 2026 Prize, books published in calendar year 2025 will be considered.
Although the work’s subject matter must be American military history or biography of figures centered on their role therein – focused on the three conflicts for which the Trust engages in land preservation – there is no requirement for citizenship or headquarters on the part of the author or publisher.
Nomination Procedure
Submissions should be made by the relevant publisher house using the form at right; self-published works, including those distributed solely through platforms like Kindle Direct are not eligible. Works by employees and Trustees of the American Battlefield Trust are not eligible for the duration of their tenure. There is no limit on how many titles may be put forward by any single publisher. In conjunction with an online form, three physical copies of each work are requested. The nomination window opens October 15, 2025, and must be made no later than December 31, 2025.
Selection Process
A selection panel made up of Trust leadership and partners will review nominated works and forward a selection of finalist choices on to a separate judging panel. This full roster of finalists will be released publicly, and nominators may be contacted to request additional copies for evaluation. After consideration and deliberation, the judges will put forward a slate of three honorees – a winner and two honorable mentions – to the Board of Trustees for acclimation. The winner will be announced prior to the prize being awarded at our Battlefield BookFest event in the autumn.
Should you have additional questions, please contact Mary Koik, Director of Communications, at bookprize@battlefields.org. or American Battlefield Trust ATTN: Book Prize, 1030 15th Street NW, Suite 900 East, Washington, DC 20005.