Every year the Society presents several awards in recognition of significant contributions to the publication, documentation and preservation of the worldwide history of the motor vehicle. We have awards for print media (books, articles and periodicals), non-print media (film, video, audio, websites, etc.), papers authored by undergraduate and graduate students, service to the cause of automotive history, and for the historical work of libraries, archives and museums.

Nominations are received in the spring of each year for books, articles and periodicals published in the previous calendar year. The awards are announced in September and presented at the annual awards banquet, to be held this year on Saturday, September 19, 2026, in Flint, Michigan.

Current Winners (2025)

Below is a list of the most recent award winners in each category, followed by all winners in each category. (Click on the plus signs to show the lists.) Where the date is not mentioned in a citation, the award is for the previous calendar year.

Where the date is not mentioned in a citation, please note the award is for the previous calendar year. The Awards Committee congratulates the winners and thanks all of those who have served on the awards panels this past year.

  • Carl Benz Award – Patrick Foster. 1974-1983 Jeep Cherokee: The Start of Something Big, published in Collectible Automobile.
  • E. P. Ingersoll Award – Elizabeth Blackstock. Podcast creator for “Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys” — A Motorsport History Podcast
  • Friend of Automotive History Award – Matthew Short. Recipient of the 2025 award
  • James J. Bradley Distinguished Service Award – America’s Packard Museum. Recipient of the 2025 award
  • Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award (English) – Andrew Denning. Automotive Empire: How Cars and Roads Fueled European Colonialism in Africa, published by Cornell University Press
  • Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award (LOE) – Donatella Biffignandi & Alessandro Silva. Diatto, published by AISA
  • Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Award (LOE) – Christian Suhr. Krupp Des Ostens: Das Fahrzeugwerk Hunger aus Frankenberg, published by Verlag Kraftakt
  • Richard and Grace Brigham Award – The Nash Car Club of America. The Nash Times, David Nastal, Editor
  • Richard P. Scharchburg Student Paper Award – Nathan Drouin. Technicals: How Toyotas End Up in Wars and How They Win Them
  • Award of Distinction – Richard P. Scharchburg Student Paper Award – Jake Glasser. What’s Happening to GM is What’s Happening to America: The U.S. Auto Industry and its Impact on American Law

Award Types