The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society presents an array of seven Railroad History awards for contributions of lasting value to the interpretation of North American railroad history and its contexts. Started in 1982, the program has honored many writers, photographers, and other leaders in preservation and historical study. The awards include a $250 honorarium (most are given annually), and are described here:
- Gerald M. Best Senior Achievement Award, given for significant and long-standing contributions to the writing, preservation, and interpretation of railroad history.
- George W. & Constance M. Hilton Book Award, given for a distinguished work of lasting value to the interpretation of North America’s railroading history, published within the preceding three years of the award date.
- David P. Morgan Article Award, given for a distinguished article or paper, with a cover published date within the preceding three years of the award date, of lasting significance to the interpretation of North American railroading history.
- William F. Howes, Jr. Passenger Rail Article Award, given for a distinguished article or paper with a cover published date within the preceding three years of the award date documenting the history of railroad passenger service.
- Fred A. & Jane R. Stindt Photography Award, given for a distinguished body of work over a long period of time, or a single photographic project or publication, making an outstanding contribution to the photographic interpretation of North America’s railroad history.
- John E. Gruber Video Award, given for outstanding video projects that creatively and accurately educate viewers about one or more aspects of North America’s railroading history.
- Arthur D. Dubin Medal, given at the discretion of the Awards Committee, to honor truly extraordinary lifetime contributions to the study of railroad history.
Anyone may submit nominations for any awards, including both Awards Committee members and non-R&LHS members. However, no self-nominations from committee members are allowed. Further, committee members may not nominate a book or article that they helped to create by providing material assistance in research, drafting, or editing.
Nominations may be submitted via the Nomination portal on the R&LHS website, or by email or in writing by regular mail to the awards committee chair, Daryl Mundis, 4 Tanna Hill Court, Baldwin Place, NY 10505-2017, email Daryl.Mundis@gmail.com, phone 706-518-2199 for questions.
They must include information justifying the nomination and sufficient citation information to allow the committee to retrieve the publication, photographs, or video to allow judging to occur.
For books, articles and videos, nominations are accepted for items published in the five-year period preceding the awards cycle. For example, for the 2022 awards cycle, items published from 2017-2021 inclusive are eligible. For magazine articles that are published as part of a series, the publication year of the final article of the series determines the eligibility.
In all award categories, nominees must be living at the time of the nomination, although posthumous awards may be presented for individuals who die after being nominated.