The Richard P. Scharchburg Award is given for the best university student papers on automotive history written in the previous year. Two awards are given. One for the best graduate paper, and one for the best undergraduate paper.
The award is named for Richard Scharchburg, late Professor of History at Kettering University, eminent automotive historian, and past vice president of the Society of Automotive Historians.
Nominations may be submitted for papers on any aspect of automotive history including, but not limited to social, economic, technical, or regulatory topics. Students can nominate themselves.
The winner in the Graduate category will receive an engraved plaque, a one-year digital membership in the SAH, and a $500 check. Their paper may also be recommended for publication in the Society’s annual Automotive History Review.
The runner-up in the Graduate category will receive an engraved Award of Distinction plaque, a one-year digital membership in the SAH, and a $100 check.
The winner in the Undergraduate category will receive an engraved plaque, a one-year digital membership in the SAH, and a $250 check. The runner-up will receive an engraved Award of Distinction plaque, a one-year digital membership in the SAH, and a $100 check.
There are additional requirements for submission, which you can find below.
Requirements
All nominations and enquiries should be sent by email to sahawards@autohistory.org. Your email will then be forwarded to the Scharzberg committee chair.
Students must be enrolled as graduates or upper-class undergraduates at the time of submission.
Although the award is international in scope, papers must be in English. Papers already published or scheduled for publication cannot be accepted.
Judging criteria include clear statement of purpose and testable hypothesis, accuracy and thoroughness of research, originality of the research, documentation, quality and extent of bibliographic resources, and writing style.
Nominations should include the name of the award, the name of the person and paper being nominated, the name and contact information of the individual making the nomination, and one or two lines outlining the reasons for the nomination.
Nominations should include a cover letter from the student and a manuscript copy of the paper being nominated. Submitted papers must be in electronic form (doc or pdf).
The cover letter should state the student’s name, address, school, program, advisor, and stage in studies. The letter should also say how the paper will relate to the student’s professional future
The manuscript should be double-spaced and not exceed 10,000 words. Photos and other illustrations should be included. An abstract should be provided.
All nominations for the Scharzburg Award must be be received by June 15 of this year. Be sure to apply by the deadline.
Previous Award Winners
2025
Award: Nathan Drouin for “Technicals: How Toyotas End Up in Wars and How They Win Them”
Award of Distinction: Jake Glasser for “What’s Happening to GM is What’s Happening to America: The U.S. Auto Industry and its Impact on American Law ”
2024
Mark Forbes
“Navigating the Great Depression: Independent Automakers and Their Leadership within a Business Cycle.”
2023
“Quality Assured: Autoworker Stories from the Chrysler Newark, Delaware Assembly Plant,” by graduate student Meave Sheehan, Columbia University.
Award of Distinction: “Community Representation in Corporate Automotive Museums,” graduate student Cassady Calder, University College, Cork, Ireland.
No submissions were received from undergaduates this year.
2022
“Models of Automotive Firms Past and Present: Insights from Transaction Cost Economics and Industrial History,” by Mark P. Forbes, McMaster University.
“The Automobile and Black Americans” by undergraduate student William Thompson, University of South Carolina.
2021
No Award.
2020
“Church Pews From Detroit: The Rise of the Drive-in Church in the United States of Between the 1940s to the 1950s,” by Han-Yi Huang, University of Toronto.
Award of Distinction: “The Virtual Frontier: The Automotive Video Game and its Future in Automotive Heritage,” by Tyler Miller-Wells, McPherson College.
2019
No Award.
2018
“Shanghai Taxi,” by Adam and Shaung Frost, Harvard University.
2017
No Award.
2016
“Race Men: African American Participation in Automobile Racing – 1910-1991,” by Alison Kreitzer, University of Delaware.
2015
“Creating an Icon: the Rise of the Ford Mustang,” by Patrick Nicolello, University of Dayton.
2014
Joint Awardees:
“Reorientating Main Street: The International Meridian Highway Association’s 1921 Reip to Mexico,” by Amanda Johnson, Utah State University.
“From Peace Officer to Law Enforcement Offier: The Patrol car and the Professionalization of Police,” by Sarah Seo, Princeton University.
2013
“The Soft Sell: Gender, Advertising and the Chevrolet Corvair,” by John Mohr, Auburn University.
2012
“Boulevards and Broken Dreams: Burnham’s Plan, the Automobile and Changing Ideas of Chicago’s Streets, 1909-1929,” by Sam Kling, Northwestern University.
2011
“The Automobile, the Interstate and Suburbanites,” by Andrew Jennings Mabon, James Madison University.
2009
“Sit-Down Women: Gender and the 1936-7 General Motors Strike in Flint, Michigan,” by Ted R. Mitchell, Michigan State University.
2008
“Consumers, Cadillacs, and Civil Rights: The Social and Cultural Impact of the Automobile in Ebony, 1945-1965,” by Peter S. Cajka, University of Dayton.
2007
“The Development of the Garage in Rural Belgian Flanders,” by Els De Vos.
2006
“General Motors: Innovations in American Social Class Structure,” by Katherine Anne Mechler, University of Dallas.
2005
“The Fast and the Furious: The Victoria Police and Changing Definitions of Speed and Speeding 1900-1930,” by E. Rick Clapton, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Award of Distinction – “History of Chicago’s Motor Row,” by David M. Kerr, Loyola University.
2004
“Eve’s Conquest of the Steering Wheel: Gender and the Automobile in Interwar France,” by Adam C. Stanley, Purdue University.
2003
Graduate Level:
“Mini: The Creation of a Culture Icon,” by Dean C. Ruffilli, University of Western Ontario.
Undergraduate Level
“Scooters in America: The Future is the Past,” by Owen Thomas McDonough, College of William and Mary.
2002
No award.
2001
“Driving the Dream,” by Jameson M. Wetmore, Cornell University.