On June 10, 2025, the Dan David Prize, the world’s largest and most prestigious history prize, announced its nine exceptional winners for the year. Celebrated for their innovative and rigorous contributions to historical scholarship, each laureate will receive $300,000 USD as a testament to their achievements and an investment in their future research and creative endeavors. The prize uniquely spotlights early and mid-career researchers and filmmakers who are reshaping our understanding of human history through interdisciplinary methods. These individuals come from diverse backgrounds and regions, including Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, highlighting the global nature of contemporary historical inquiry.
The selection of winners follows a transparent, open-nomination process overseen by an annually rotating international committee of leading historians affiliated with premier academic institutions such as the University of Toronto, the Cyprus Institute, and the University of Cambridge. This dynamic composition ensures that the Prize remains at the cutting edge of historical research and inclusivity. Their expertise allows for a comprehensive evaluation of candidates whose work pushes boundaries, employs innovative methodologies, and often challenges long-standing paradigms within historical disciplines and adjacent fields.
Among the most striking features of this year’s prize is the diversity of thematic foci and methodological approaches. For example, Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, a research archaeologist at the British Museum, has revolutionized the understanding of early glass production technology in West Africa. Utilizing material science and archaeological techniques, Babalola demonstrated that glassmaking in pre-colonial Africa occurred independently of European influence, forcing a fundamental reevaluation of technological and economic histories on the continent. His work exemplifies the integration of scientific analysis with anthropological archaeology, offering nuanced insight into indigenous technological innovation that predates colonial narratives.
Another winner, Mackenzie Cooley of Hamilton College, specializes in the history of science and medicine within the early modern Hispanic world. Cooley’s research intimately weaves intellectual history with environmental perspectives, illustrating how Renaissance-era breeding practices not only shaped human conceptions of race and animality but also influenced imperial and societal structures. Her exploration of “bioprospecting” — the appropriation of natural resources for medicinal and commercial use — in this context has implications extending beyond historical clarification to present-day debates on biodiversity and health sciences.
The Dan David Prize also honors scholars exploring intersections of religion, culture, and identity, such as Bar Kribus at Tel Aviv University. Kribus’s expertise in Late Antique and Early Modern Ethiopian archaeology, with a special focus on the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), brings to light complex interreligious dynamics and political autonomy in a region understudied in global Jewish and African histories. By combining archaeological evidence with oral and textual sources, Kribus constructs a multifaceted portrayal of religious traditions and social structures in Ethiopia’s highlands that challenges monolithic narratives and enriches global historical frameworks.
The prize underscores the significance of visual storytelling in history through filmmakers like Fred Kudjo Kuwornu. Kuwornu’s documentaries delve into intricate narratives of race, identity, and historical memory. His acclaimed films, including “Inside Buffalo,” which investigates African American soldiers’ experiences in World War II, and “We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe,” showcased at the 60th Venice Art Biennale, harness cinematic techniques to reach broad audiences beyond academia. This approach reflects a crucial shift in historical communication, harnessing multimedia platforms to democratize access to complex historical research.
Dmitri Levitin, a historian working between the University of Utrecht and All Souls College, Oxford, explores vast intellectual territories encompassing scholarship, science, medical history, and the philosophy of early modern Europe. His interdisciplinary approach reveals how educational structures have historically underpinned intellectual transformations. Levitin’s ongoing research into cultural perceptions and global encounters sheds new light on epistemic changes and the circulation of knowledge in pre-modern societies, employing analysis that blends archival work with theoretical inquiry—a hallmark of progressive historical scholarship.
Beth Lew-Williams of Princeton University directs her scholarship toward Asian American history, analyzing how legal frameworks restricting Chinese immigration shaped the racialized contours of American citizenship. Her forthcoming book, “John Doe Chinaman,” uncovers thousands of obscure regulatory laws that dictated everyday life for Chinese immigrants, giving voice to those resisting marginalization. Through her work, Lew-Williams fosters a deeper understanding of race, migration, and legal history that is especially timely amid ongoing discussions about immigration and racial justice.
Hannah Marcus from Harvard University offers a profound investigation into the scientific cultures of early modern Europe, notably in Italy between the 15th and 17th centuries. Her work addresses the interplay of medicine, scientific inquiry, and the mechanisms of censorship, illuminating how knowledge was regulated and contested in highly stratified societies. As director of Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Marcus merges curatorial practice with historical research to offer material insights into early scientific endeavors, enriching our comprehension of knowledge production and dissemination in history.
Highlighting the importance of representing marginalized histories, Alina Șerban, founder of Untold Stories, uses film and theater to confront the historical silencing of the Roma community. Her work disrupts entrenched stereotypes by centering narratives of Roma slavery and cultural identity. As the first Roma woman to receive one of Romania’s highest cultural honors, Șerban embodies the transformative power of artistic expression as a form of historical intervention and social activism, providing critical perspectives often excluded from mainstream historiography.
Caroline Sturdy Colls, a Professor at the University of Huddersfield specializing in Holocaust Archaeology and Genocide Investigation, epitomizes interdisciplinary research that combines forensic archaeology, digital humanities, and history to uncover and preserve evidence of genocidal atrocities. Her pioneering work at Treblinka revealed traces of Nazi gas chambers that had been deliberately destroyed while respecting Jewish religious laws concerning the disturbance of human remains. Sturdy Colls’s research not only advances Holocaust studies but also demonstrates ethical and technical ingenuity in archaeological investigations of mass violence.
Collectively, this cohort exemplifies the evolving discipline of history, where traditional boundaries between art, science, and humanities blur to forge new pathways for understanding the past. The Dan David Prize’s focus on emerging scholars and cross-disciplinary methodologies underscores the necessity of fostering historical knowledge amidst contemporary challenges such as academic austerity, shrinking humanities budgets, and the politicization of historical discourse.
The 2025 award ceremony was held in Italy, bringing together an international community of historians, curators, and filmmakers dedicated to pushing the boundaries of historical research. As the Prize continues to grow, it stands as a beacon of support for the next generation of historians and scholars committed to addressing pressing questions about identity, culture, technology, and memory from multiple vantage points. Nominations for the 2026 Dan David Prize are currently open, inviting a new wave of innovative researchers to contribute to this vibrant intellectual enterprise.
The legacy of Dan David, the Prize’s founder, remains deeply embedded in its mission. Having endured persecution in Nazi-occupied and Communist Romania, David channeled his lived experiences into a profound passion for history, archaeology, and innovation. His entrepreneurial spirit introduced revolutionary instant photography globally, and his philanthropic vision now lives on through the Prize, which carries forward his belief that historical understanding is critical for navigating contemporary challenges and imagining collective futures.
At a time when public and institutional support for history and the humanities face unprecedented constraints and skepticism, the Dan David Prize stands as a vital institution affirming the value of historical knowledge. By recognizing and funding scholars working at the forefront of their fields, the Prize sustains a diverse, dynamic community that enriches global culture, informs public discourse, and inspires future generations to delve into the complexities of the human past.
For more information about the Dan David Prize, its winners, and upcoming nomination processes, please visit the official website at www.dandavidprize.org. The Prize continues to serve as a testament to the enduring relevance and transformative potential of historical scholarship in the 21st century.
Subject of Research: Historical Scholarship, Archaeology, History of Science, Cultural History, Holocaust Archaeology, Film and Media in History, Migration and Race Studies
News Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Web References:
– https://dandavidprize.org
– https://www.dandavidprize.org/selection-committees/
– https://abidemibabalola.com/
– https://wearemowaa.org/
– https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/our-faculty/directory/faculty-detail/mackenzie-cooley
– https://liberal-arts.tau.ac.il/diaspora/en_Dr_Bar_Kribus
– https://www.fredkuwornu.com/
– https://dmitrilevitin.com/
– https://history.princeton.edu/people/beth-lew-williams
– https://histsci.fas.harvard.edu/people/hannah-marcus
– https://chsi.harvard.edu
– https://alinaserban.com/
– https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/persons/caroline-sturdy-colls
References: Information derived from the Dan David Prize 2025 official announcement and biographies of the awardees.
Keywords: History, Archaeology, Historical Research, Dan David Prize, Holocaust Archaeology, Early Modern Science, African History, Migration Studies, Film and History, Interdisciplinary Research, Historical Scholarship, Digital Humanities
