The new Dan David Prize Announces Inaugural Cohort of Winners

The Prize has selected nine outstanding scholars and practitioners of history to receive $300,000 each

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 1, 2022 /CNW/ -- The Dan David Prize, the world's largest history prize, announced its first cohort of winners, which includes a historian who investigates the environmental impact of big business, a researcher who uncovers Jewish hiding places during the Holocaust and the founder of a mobile museum of African heritage.

The Prize recognizes early and mid-career scholars and practitioners who illuminate the human past in bold and creative ways, and awards nine winners $300,000 each to help further their work.  

The 2022 winners are listed below. 

• Mirjam Brusius, A cultural historian who studies visual and material culture in global and colonial contexts
• Bart Elmore, An environmental historian who investigates global capitalism and its impact on the environment
• Tyrone Freeman, A historian of philanthropy who looks at the long story of African-American community giving
• Verena Krebs, A historian of medieval Ethiopia who studies cross-cultural interactions between Africa and Europe
• Efthymia Nikita, A bioarchaeologist using human skeletal remains to explore questions of demography and migration
• Nana Oforiatta Ayim, A curator and art historian whose work centers African narratives in museums and heritage
• Kristina Richardson, A historian of the medieval Islamic world and the Romani people in the pre-modern Middle East
• Natalia Romik, A public historian and architect who works to preserve and commemorate lost Jewish lives in Eastern Europe
• Kimberly Welch, A legal historian who studies the roles of Black litigants and moneylenders in the Antebellum South

The recently redesigned prize attracted hundreds of nominations and the nine winners were chosen following a rigorous selection process. The Prize is endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University. 

"We live in a world in which the humanities, and particularly history, are devalued, even as it remains clear that only by deepening our knowledge of the past we can gain a better understanding of the present," said Ariel David, board member of the Prize. "For this reason we have chosen to focus on supporting emerging scholars and practitioners, within and beyond the academy, at a stage in their career when the Prize can make a bigger impact."

The winners will be honored at the Dan David Prize Award Ceremony in Tel Aviv in May. To learn more, visit www.dandavidprize.org.

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SOURCE Dan David Prize