DAHS Book Award
One award of $2,500 will be given to the author of an outstanding non- fiction scholarly book on a Danish American or Danish topic published in English. This award is made every other year, in odd years, for the two preceding calendar years. The next award will be made for non-fiction scholarly books on Danish American or Danish cultural and historical topics published in 2024, 2025, and into early 2026. They should be original works that significantly advance scholarship and thinking in the field either by opening up new lines of inquiry or by consolidating existing ones at a high level of accomplishment.
Publishers and journal editors are invited to nominate books, but individual authors should feel free either to submit copies of books directly or ask their publisher or editor to do so. The application deadline for the 2027 DAHS Book Award is Oct. 1, 2026, via the form on this website. Please direct any questions about the award process to committee chair Lise Kildegaard at kildegli@luther.edu .
2025 Book Award: The translated memoirs of a Danish silent film star. "The Silent Muse: The Memoirs of Asta Nielsen" by Asta Nielsen and translated/edited by Julie K. Allen. Published in 2022 by Camden House, 350 pages. The book includes a scholarly introduction, annotations and a foreword by a film scholar. Allen is professor of Scandinavian studies at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
2023 Book Award: "Civil War Settlers: Scandinavians, Citizenship, and American Empire, 1848-1870" by Anders Bo Rasmussen. Published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press, 360 pages. Rasmussen is an associate professor of American history at the University of Southern Denmark.
Application Deadline: Oct. 1, 2026
ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible, nominated books must have been published during the two calendar years preceding the application deadline. Republished and self-published volumes are not eligible.
APPLICATION: The application form (ONE nomination per form) containing the author’s name, e-mail address, title of the book, name of publisher, publication date, a name and e-mail address for the relevant contact person at the publisher must be submitted online through the form nearby by Oct. 1, 2026.
In order for a book to be considered by the three-member DAHS Book Award Committee, a copy of the book must be sent to each of the committee members. Nominated books should be sent directly from the publishers/presses, authors, or agents to each committee member. If the list price of a book makes this a hardship, we ask the publisher for one hard copy (sent to the committee chair) and an electronic version of the book that can be distributed to committee members.
NOTIFICATION: Award decisions will be announced in 2027. The book selected for the award will be recognized in The Bridge.
Book Prize Committee
Lise Kildegaard, Chair
kildegli@luther.edu
Desiree Ohrbeck
Matt Plowman
mplowman@grandview.edu
After the application has been submitted, please email the committee members directly to get their mailing addresses.
Application Form
IMPORTANT: Each book must be submitted separately.
Do NOT combine multiple books on one form.
© 2021, Danish American Heritage Society