Student Awards

Student members of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) are invited to submit research proposals or papers for the Historical Geography Specialty Group (HGSG) Student Research and Paper Awards. The specialty group, at its discretion, will award up to four prizes in 2026-7.

HGSG Student Research Awards

The Carville Earle Award ($750) recognizes research at the PhD level, and the Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov Award ($500) recognizes research at the Master's or undergraduate level. To apply for either award, students must submit a two-page research proposal that gives their research question and explains how archival work and/or fieldwork is necessary to complete their project. To allow greater ease in applications, the committee will accept the utilization of an existing form or research proposal. The proposal must also specify the archives and/or field research site that will be utilized. The name and email of their major advisor must accompany the proposal. The award may be used for travel or other related research expenses. Students who have already won a Carville Earle Award or Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov Award in the past are NOT eligible to submit for the same award again (previous winners of a Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov Award, however, are eligible to submit for the Carville Earle Award.)

HGSG Paper Award

The Historical Geography Specialty Group will sponsor two student paper award competitions in 2027. The Andrew Hill Clark Award ($750) for a paper written at the PhD level and the Ralph Brown Award ($500) for a paper written at the Master's or undergraduate level may be awarded. Preference is given to papers based on primary sources of information rather than on literature reviews. 

Instructions:

Students wishing to participate should send a conference-length paper of no more than 11 double-spaced pages (excluding notes, figures, bibliography, etc.) to the Awards Director listed below. Papers should be sent by e-mail in MS Word or PDF format. Please specify in your email:

1. the name of the award for which you are applying

2. the graduate program in which you are enrolled, and 

3. the conference at which your paper was (or will be) presented. The deadline for submitting materials is January 25, 2027.

Preference is given to papers based on primary sources of information and original research topics rather than on literature reviews. The committee will take a broad approach to “historical geography” to recognize the diversity of subject matter under the purview.

Eligibility for paper awards:

Eligibility for the paper awards is open to any graduate student who has or will present a paper at any professional conference beginning the day after the 2026 AAG Annual Meeting and ending the last day of the 2027 Annual Meeting. If the paper you wish to enter for the Ralph Brown Award is based upon research conducted while you were a Master's student, you are eligible to enter this competition even if you are now a PhD student.  Students who have already won a Ralph Brown Award or Andrew Hill Clark Award in the past are NOT eligible to submit for the same award again. (Previous winners of a Ralph Brown Award, however, are eligible to submit for the Andrew Hill Clark Award.)

Award Submission Details

For all awards, students must be members of the AAG and HGSG to be eligible for this competition. Students must submit their materials via email to the Historical Geography Specialty Group Awards Director, Dr. Declan Cullen (drcullen@email.gwu.edu) by January 25, 2027.

Students are limited to one award submission per year.

AI Statement: 

By submitting a paper, authors explicitly certify that no AI tools were used in the writing of their manuscripts or research proposals.

Support HGSG Student Awards

If you wish to make a one-time or recurring donation to expand the capacity of our student funding, please do so at the following link: https://www.aag.org/donate/#/donate/3ab1223f-246d-ee11-8df0-000d3a55fb1c 

If you would like to help HGSG create a new named award, please reach out to the HGSG Chair, Dr. Mark Rhodes (marhodes@mtu.edu).