Awards for exemplary oral history work in seven categories were presented to winners at the OHA presidential reception held at the Tampa Bay History Center. The winning individuals and projects are:
OHA President Paul Ortiz congratulates Amy Starecheski for winning the Best Article Award.
Article Award—Amy Starecheski for her article in the summer/fall 2014 issue of The Oral History Review titled “Squatting History: The Power of Oral History as a History-Making Practice,” which illustrates the use of oral history in social activism.
Mark Cave and Stephen M. Sloan, editors of Listening on the Edge: Oral History in the Aftermath of Crisis, receive plaques for the 2015 Book Award from OHA President Paul Ortiz.
Book Award—Listening on the Edge: Oral History in the Aftermath of Crisis, edited by Mark Cave and Stephen M. Sloan, and published by Oxford University Press, 2014. The book is a collection of essays about oral history work in connection with 12 world crises.
Zaheer Ali of the Brooklyn Historical Society accepts the Elizabeth B. Mason Award for a major project from OHA President Paul Ortiz.
Elizabeth B. Mason Project Award for a major project—the Brooklyn Historical Society’s “Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations,” which involved more than 100 interviews focusing on the history and experiences of mixed-heritage people and families.
OHA President Paul Ortiz congratulates winners of the Elizabeth B. Mason Award for small projects, which went to the University of Florida Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s Freedom Summer Oral History and Library Curation Project.
Elizabeth B. Mason Project Award for a small project—“Freedom Summer Oral History and Library Curation Project,” a collaboration between the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida, which documented the voting rights struggle in Mississippi in the 1960s, with a focus on the 50th anniversary commemoration of the events of 1964.
Honorable mention in the small project category also went to the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky for its project “From Combat to Kentucky: Interviews with Student Veterans,” which used veterans trained in oral history to conduct interviews with other veterans transitioning to civilian life after military service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Doug Boyd, Janneken Smucker and Charles Hardy III enjoy praise from OHA President Paul Ortiz, who presented their awards for Oral History in a Non-Print Format.
Oral History in a Non-Print Format Award—“Goin’ North: Stories of the First Great Migration to Philadelphia,” a classroom-based project developed by Charles Hardy III, Janneken Smucker and Doug Boyd, which repurposed a valuable set of older interviews to create digital storytelling related to the migration of African to northern industrial centers during the first third of the 20th century.
David Jones of Eastside High School in Gainesville, Florida, was recognized as winner of the Martha Ross Teaching Award. OHA President Paul Ortiz introduced Jones at the Saturday reception since teaching duties prevented him from attending the earlier awards ceremony.
Martha Ross Teaching Award—David Jones of Eastside High School in Gainesville, Florida.
Michael Kline of Talking Across the Lines received the 2015 Vox Populi Award, honoring individuals and organizations for outstanding achievement in using oral history to create a more humane and just world.
Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi Award—Michael Kline of Talking Across the Lines, recognized for grassroots oral history work with often marginalized people focusing on social change in Appalachia and on environmental justice. The award, named for a pioneer oral historian and human rights advocate, honors individuals and organizations for exemplary use of oral history to create a more humane and just world.
