Lefler Award

The Hugh T. Lefler Undergraduate Award

This award is given annually (each academic year) by the Historical Society of North Carolina for the best research paper or project on North Carolina history by an undergraduate student from an accredited senior North Carolina college or university. Each project should be approximately 5,000-25,000 words, or the equivalent substance for a web project, and shall be judged on the basis of  (a) originality of topic; (b) quality of research; (c) quality of work; and (d) overall excellence.  It must focus on North Carolina history.

The purposes of the award are:

  1. To promote an early interest in historical research and the development of future historians; and
  2. To acquaint young people with the work of historical societies and foster membership and continued support of local and state historical societies.

The award shall consist of $200 in cash and a paid student membership in the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association for one year, together with a suitable certificate bearing the name of the person receiving the award, the title of the paper for which the award was given, the date of the award, and signed by the President and Secretary of the Society. The award shall be presented at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, at which time the recipient shall be the guest of the Historical Society at the luncheon and dinner meeting of the Association.

Graduate student work is not eligible for the Lefler Award.

ANNUAL DEADLINE (for work completed in the prior academic year): AUGUST 15. Click here to submit an online nomination.

Past Recipients

1974Austin M. Allran
1975Gary Freeze
1976Steven Benjamin
1977Theodore D. Segal
1978Carol Sue Humphrey
1979Silda Wall
1980Jeffrey Baker
1981Helen P. Wiley
1982Tera W. Hunter
1983Christopher D. Howard
1984Sang Foon Rhee
1985Laura K. Rebbe
1986Amanda J. Berlowe
1987Catherine M. Howe
1988No award
1989Edward D. James
1990Jorge Kotelanski
1991Jeremy Simon
1992Linda Parramore Culpepper
1993Colin W. Shepard
1994W. Carlton Metcalf
1995No award
1996Emily Berry
1997Terry Mehlman
1998Samuel L. Schaffer
1999Scott Matthews
2000Justin Morgan Ward
2001Patrick Kinlaw
2002No award
2003Timothy J. Williams
2004No Award
2005Brendan Mullen
2006Robert Dawson
2007Elizabeth Lundeen
2008Sam Diamant
2009Kelly Ann Carroll
2010Elinor Landess
2011Walker Elliot
2012Katie Skeen
2013Wes Reynolds
2014Robin Malloch
2015Micah Khater
2016Eric Andro Walls
2017Andrew C. Turner
2018Brian S. Wood
2019Bethany Kirkpatrick
2020Scott Stegall