History Awards

Each year, the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) sponsors the Kentucky History Awards, recognizing the outstanding achievements of history-related organizations and the people connected with them.  KHS encourages nominations for projects and people who promote the value of Kentucky history through awareness, preservation, and appreciation of state and local history.

We encourage nominations of deserving people and projects, and we believe when we build each other up and recognize each other’s great work, everyone wins! 

Nominations for 2023 are now open. Please click here to download the 2023 Award Nomination Packet. The nomination submission deadline is Friday, March 17, 2023. 

Recipients will be honored at the Kentucky History Awards breakfast and presentation on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, KY.

2011 - 2022 Award Winners

If you attend our annual awards event, you will hear about other award recipients:

Governor's Award

The Office of the Governor and the Kentucky Historical Society jointly present the Governor’s Award award to an author whose book, as judged by a panel of scholars, is deemed to have made the most significant contribution to Kentucky history. The award was established in 1979 and is given every four years in the last year of a governor’s term. The list of all winners is here (opens as PDF).

Brigadier General William R. Buster Award

This award was named for Brigadier General William R. Buster, a highly decorated veteran and the former executive director of the Kentucky Historical Society. It is given to an individual who has made a sustained, significant contribution to Kentucky’s military history. Winners of the Buster Award have consistently shown their support for military history and related projects in their communities or across Kentucky. In addition, recipients have frequently initiated military history projects that have brought wide recognition to the Bluegrass State’s military past. Click here for a list of past recipients. 

Richard H. Collins Award

This annual award honors Richard H. Collins, a trailblazing Kentucky historian, and goes to the author of an article from The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society judged to have made the most outstanding contribution to Kentucky history. A panel of historians makes the selection. Find a list of past Collins Award Recipients here.