Prize Partners
The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history, culture and politics. Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782, it is the only institution of higher learning that the first president patronized during his lifetime. Washington donated fifty guineas to the newly founded school, gave his consent for it to be named in his honor, served on its board of Visitors and Governors, and visited Chestertown as president to receive an honorary degree in 1789. The college is also known for awarding the Sophie Kerr Prize, an undergraduate literary prize believed to be the largest in the nation; it is currently valued at $54,000.
George Washington's estate Mount Vernon
Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History promotes the study and love of American history. Increasingly national and international in scope, the Institute targets audiences ranging from students to scholars to the general public. It creates history-centered schools and academic research centers, organizes seminars and enrichment programs for educators, partners with school districts to implement Teaching American History grants, produces print and electronic publications and traveling exhibitions, and sponsors lectures by eminent historians. The Institute also funds the Lincoln Prize and the Frederick Douglass Book Prize and offers fellowships for scholars to work in history archives, including the Gilder Lehrman Collection.
The oldest national preservation organization in America, the Mount
Vernon Ladies' Association has owned and managed the home of George
Washington for nearly 150 years, opening its doors annually to approximately
one million people. The George Washington Book Prize is an important component
in the Association's aggressive outreach program, which engages millions
of teachers and students throughout the nation.
