NCPH Robert Kelley Memorial Award

This $500 award honors distinguished achievements by individuals, institutions, or nonprofit or corporate entities for making history relevant to individual lives of ordinary people outside of academia.

This is a bienneial award. The Kelley Award will next be given in 2028.

2026 Winner - Humanities Action Lab

Represented by Liz Ševčenko and Regina Campbell

The Robert Kelley Memorial Award committee is pleased to select the Humanities Action Lab as the recipient for the 2026 Robert Kelley Award.

The Humanities Action Lab (HAL) is a coalition of universities, issue organizations, and public spaces in 40 cities, led from Hunter College in New York City, that collaborate to produce community-curated public humanities projects on urgent social issues. Students and stakeholders in each city develop local chapters of international traveling exhibits, web projects, public programs, and other platforms for civic engagement. Projects travel nationally and internationally to museums, public libraries, cultural centers, and other spaces in each of the communities that helped create them.

HAL consists of over 1,000 collaborators and has produced five national projects. Rather than treating public history as something delivered to communities, HAL treats it as something created with communities. Through this philosophy, HAL has developed powerful exhibitions on urgent social issues—from mass incarceration to the climate crisis—as well as multiple digital public humanities platforms offering open-access archives, exhibitions, lesson plans, and toolkits for national and international audiences. Its translocal learning exchanges among students, faculty, and community organizers working on shared projects has pioneered a model of mutual aid within the public history and humanities space, enabling participants across the HAL coalition to connect, share struggles and strategies, and exchange resources.

Through this work, HAL has brought history to life for numerous and diverse audiences—and in doing so, has embodied precisely the vision at the heart of the Robert Kelley Memorial Award, which honors “distinguished achievement in making history relevant to the individual lives of ordinary people outside of academia.” HAL’s entire mission is grounded in that principle. It is our great pleasure to recognize them with this year’s award.

Award Criteria

Submissions will reopen for 2028 Awards in summer 2027

This award seeks to perpetuate the legacy and memory of a founder of the public history movement, Dr. Robert Kelley. It honors distinguished and outstanding achievements by individuals, institutions, non-profit or corporate entities for having made significant inroads in making history relevant to individual lives of ordinary people outside of academia.

The Kelley Award consists of a $500 cash award and framed certificate that will be presented at the annual meeting of NCPH. The award recipient will receive a complimentary registration for the awards breakfast at the annual meeting.

Eligibility

Individuals or organizational entities may be considered for the award.

Award Criteria

Individuals

Individuals may be nominated based on their achievements and specific contributions to the public history movement, usually over a sustained period of time.

Evidence of scholarly excellence must be combined with two or more of the following:

Sustained service to NCPH in an appointed and/or elected capacity
Demonstrated innovation in teaching and/or development of institutional training programs
Creativity as evidenced through the development of teaching and/or educational outreach materials
A singular achievement (i.e. a motion picture, major exhibit, or a well-recognized book) that significantly contributes to the general public’s understanding and appreciation of history
A distinguished record of creating, administering, or managing an undergraduate or graduate public history program at an institution of learning

Organizational Entities

Institutions, colleges and university departments of history, non-profit, corporate or other organizational entities may be nominated based on the institution’s achievements and specific contributions in advancing the cause of public history, usually over a sustained period of time.

Evidence of program excellence must be combined with two or more of the following in evaluating the contribution of each nominated institution:

Innovative excellence in the training of public historians (either at the undergraduate or graduate level) as evidenced by a quality public history curriculum and/or success in placement and accomplishments of graduates in public history related jobs
Sustained commitment to the development of scholarly or other educational or teaching materials relating to the field of public history
Sponsorship and/or delivery of high quality training courses, conferences, or educational outreach to the public or the public history community
An outstanding record of public outreach programs (i.e. mass media, exhibitory, lecture series) that advance the appreciation of public history
Demonstrated commitment to the value of expanding the public’s knowledge and appreciation of history in the institutional or corporate setting

Submission Process

Nominations should be submitted in the form of a written narrative not to exceed 1,500 words (typed).
Nominations should include pertinent supporting documents, including a copy of the nominee’s resume or curriculum vitae if available, plus a minimum of two and a maximum of five letters of support.
Fill out the form with the nominee’s information.
The form includes a file upload for the CV or resume and a file upload for supplemental material (the narrative and letters of support); all supplemental materials must be uploaded in one Word document or PDF. The completed form will be sent to each of the Robert Kelley Award Committee members and to the NCPH executive office.

Materials must be received (not postmarked) no later than December 1, 2027. Late submissions will not be considered.

Questions? (317) 274-2716; [email protected]