Sponsored by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and Penn Press, the MCEAS Dissertation Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional dissertation, completed within the last two years, concerning the histories and cultures of North America in the Atlantic World from 1492 to 1850. The dissertation may treat any aspect of that field.
Winners of the MCEAS Dissertation Prize will receive the following:
- $1500 in research funds.
- A manuscript workshop, including the commission and delivery of readers’ reports.
- A contract to publish a monograph derived from the dissertation in the Early American Studies book series published with Penn Press.
The MCEAS Dissertation Prize is currently open for applications.
2025: BJ Lillis, "A Valley Between Worlds: Slavery, Dispossession, and the Creation of a Settler-Colonial Society in the Hudson Valley, 1674-1766" (Princeton University, Department of History)