The History and Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society (AFS) invites submissions for the Wayland D. Hand Prize awarded since 2006 to recognize an outstanding book in English that combines historical and folkloristic content and perspectives. The annual Prize comprises two categories: (1) single or co-authored monographic books and (2) edited and special volumes that can include topical books of essays, dictionaries, encyclopedias, annotated collections, translations, and museum catalogues. A work submitted for consideration would have been published between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026. Submissions can be from authors, editors, or publishers. Submit three copies or a single PDF file of the ebook for judges on or before June 1, 2026 to:
Dr. Anthony Bak Buccitelli, Interim Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs, C120 Olmsted, Penn State Harrisburg, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057.
The Prize honors Wayland D. Hand (1907–86) who as president of the AFS and in his teaching and scholarship championed the integration of historical and folkloristic research. The winner of the Wayland D. Hand Prize in each category will receive 200 USD and an accolade from the AFS. The prize-winning book will be publicized at the annual meetings of the AFS and receive notice in the pages of TFH: The Journal of History and Folklore, the annual publication of the History and Folklore Section of the AFS.
For more information, contact Dean Anthony Bak Buccitelli at abb20@psu.edu.
Past Awardees
- The 2025 authored category was awarded to Ann Schmiesing (University of Colorado Boulder) for her book The Brothers Grimm: A Biography (Yale University Press). A special merit in writing and editing category was awarded to John Minton (Purdue University Fort Wayne, emeritus) for his book Folk Music and Song in the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives (University Press of Mississippi).
- The 2024 authored category was awarded to Jennifer Eastman Attebery (Idaho State University, emerita) for her book As Legend Has It: History, Heritage, and the Construction of Swedish American Identity (University of Wisconsin Press). The edited category was awarded to Toms Ķencis (University of Latvia Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art) for his co-edited volume Folklore and Ethnology in the Soviet Western Borderlands: Socialist in Form, National in Content (Lexington Books).
- The 2023 prize was awarded to Steve Siporin for his book The Befana Is Returning: The Story of a Tuscan Festival (University of Wisconsin Press). Finalists were Sarah Covington, The Devil from Over the Sea: Remembering & Forgetting Oliver Cromwell in Ireland. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022; Kristina R. Gaddy, Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History. New York: W. W. Norton, 2022; John M. Shaw, Following the Drums: African American Fife & Drum Music in Tennessee. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2022.
- The 2022 prize was awarded to Tyler D. Parry for his book Jumping the Broom: The Surprising Multicultural Origins of a Black Wedding Ritual (University of North Carolina Press).
- The 2020 prize was awarded to Guy Beiner for his book Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster (Oxford University Press). Honorable Mention went to Daniel C. Swan, and Jim Cooley for their book Wedding Clothes and the Osage Community: A Giving Heritage (Indiana University Press).
- The 2018 prize was awarded to Margarita Marín-Dale for Decoding Andean Mythology (University of Utah Press) and Stacy I. Morgan, Frankie and Johnny: Race, Gender, and the Work of African American Folklore in 1930s America (University of Texas Press).
- The 2016 prize was awarded to Daisy Turner’s Kin: An African American Family Saga by Jane C. Beck (University of Illinois Press). Honorable Mentions went to City of Neighborhoods: Memory, Folklore, and Ethnic Place in Boston by Anthony Bak Buccitelli (University of Wisconsin Press), Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946 by James P. Leary (University of Wisconsin Press and Dust-to-Digital), and The Amazing Crawfish Boat by John Laudun (University Press of Mississippi).
- The 2014 prize was awarded to Burley: Kentucky Tobacco in a New Century by Ann K. Ferrell (University Press of Kentucky).
- The 2012 prize was split between The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre by Jack Zipes (Princeton University Press) and A Lark for the Sake of Their Country: The 1926 General Strike Volunteers in Folklore and Memory by Rachelle H. Saltzman (Manchester University Press).
- The 2010 prize was split between Out of the Northwoods: The Many Lives of Paul Bunyan by Michael Edmonds (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) and Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South by Patrick Huber (University of North Carolina Press).
- The 2008 recipient of the Hand Prize was Guy Beiner, for Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory (University of Wisconsin Press). Honorable mention went to Simon J. Bronner (ed.) for The Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes (Utah State University Press).
- The Hand Prize for 2006 was awarded to Wolfgang Mieder of the University of Vermont for his Proverbs are the Best Policy: Folk Wisdom and American Politics (Utah State University Press). An honorable mention was awarded to Folklore in Utah: A History and Guide to Resources, edited by David Stanley of Westminster College in Utah (Utah State University Press).