The Southern Labor Studies Association awards the Robert H. Zieger Prize at the biennial Southern Labor Studies Conference for the best unpublished essay in southern labor studies written by a graduate student or early career scholar, journalist, or activist. The Zieger Prize includes a $1,000 award.
The Robert H. Zieger Prize was established in 2013 with the cooperation of the Zieger family and members of SLSA. The prize is named in honor of the late Robert H. Zieger – a teacher, scholar, and tireless union activist. Zieger was a prolific, award-winning writer whose books include For Jobs and Freedom: Race and Labor in America since 1865 and The CIO, 1935-1955, and three field-defining edited volumes on southern labor history.
Zieger served as an officer in the North Central Florida Central Labor Council and an organizer for the United Faculty of Florida. He maintained a strong commitment to social justice his entire life.
The winner of the Zieger Prize will be announced at the 2024 Southern Labor Studies Association conference which will be held at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, September 20-21. SLSA encourages applicants to the Zieger Prize to also submit proposals for the “New Directions” Workshop Series via the conference call for papers.
To be considered for the Robert H. Zieger Prize, applicants must submit their essays electronically by May 15 to the prize committee chairperson at:
Paul Ortiz
Chair, Robert H. Zieger Prize Committee
Department of History
University of Florida
Questions? Email ortizprof@gmail.com
Graduate students and scholars, activists, and journalists who are no more than five years beyond the author’s highest degree are eligible to apply. Essays must be in English, in print or electronic format, and should be primarily concerned with southern labor and working-class history broadly conceived. Applicants are not required to be members of SLSA at the time of the submission.
For more information, visit tinyurl.com/Iguana1980.