Kentucky Historical Society Honored 14 at Annual History Awards
The Kentucky History Awards breakfast, sponsored by Stewart Home & School, was held on June 6th at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History.
The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) celebrated the outstanding contributions of 14 individuals and organizations from across the commonwealth at the annual Kentucky History Awards Celebration, sponsored by Stewart Home & School, on Saturday, June 6.
This year’s honorees represented a wide array of achievements in the field of history, with award categories spanning education, projects, publications, and public service. In addition to the standard categories, KHS presented several prestigious special honors named in recognition of Kentucky’s most distinguished historians. Among these are the Dr. James C. Klotter Lifetime Dedication to Kentucky History Award and the Thomas D. Clark Award of Excellence.
"Kentucky's history belongs to all of us, and these honorees are proof that it takes dedicated people in every community to keep that history alive and meaningful,” said KHS Executive Director Scott Alvey. “From classrooms to cemeteries, from digital media to exhibits, the breadth of this year's recipients reflects just how many ways there are to serve our shared heritage. We couldn't be prouder to celebrate them.”
This year’s recipients included:
- Thomas D. Clark Award of Excellence - Keeneland Library
- Award of Distinction - LaDonna Latham
- Dr. James C. Klotter Lifetime Dedication to Kentucky History Award - Judy Lyne
- Brigadier General William R. Buster Award - Dewey Pope
- Frank R. Levstik Award for Professional Service - Mike Hudson
- History Projects Class A: Learn from the Past to Build a Better Future – Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery - Richmond
- History Projects Class B: Stories from the Balcony – Joanna Hay - Frankfort
- History Projects Class C: Lexington’s 250th Celebration – Mary Todd Lincoln House - Lexington
- History Projects Class D: Love & Marriage – Frazier Kentucky History Museum - Louisville
- Publications University Press: American Bloodlines: Reckoning with Lynch Culture - Sonya Lea
- Publications Local/Private Press: The Madison County, Kentucky, African American Lost History Project - Judy Greene Baker
- Publications Digital Media: Discovering Lexington - Jeff Hoagland
- 2025 Gilder Lehrman Kentucky Teacher of the Year: Amanda Smith – New Covenant Christian Academy – Marshall County
- 2025 Richard H. Collins Award: Labor’s Lost Cause: May Day, 1886, and Fears of a New Civil War between Labor and the National Guard – Shannon M. Smith
About the Kentucky Historical Society
The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) campus has three sites in historic downtown Frankfort: the Old State Capitol; the Kentucky Military History Museum; and the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, which serves as KHS headquarters and includes a signature museum, library & research center, object & archival collections, museum store, and more. KHS is an agency within Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, a Smithsonian Affiliate, and holds full accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.
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