Pencak Award Call for Nominations

The Pennsylvania Historical Association is proud to bestow the William A. Pencak Award for the best undergraduate research paper about Pennsylvania and/or Mid-Atlantic history. The award is named for Bill Pencak (1951–2013), a prolific scholar and much-loved Penn State University history professor and former editor of Pennsylvania History.

Papers must be written during the 2025-2026 academic year and nominated by and submitted by the professor(s) for whose course students wrote the paper, professors who mentored the research, or professors who served as readers. The Pencak Award includes a certificate from the PHA for high achievement in Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic history, a cash award of $150, and an opportunity for publication consideration on the PHA’s website or in its journal, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies.

Nominations for this year’s award are due by June 30th, 2026.