The University of Virginia Press is proud to announce a new partnership with the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) on the SHEAR Dissertation Prize, awarded annually to an exceptional unpublished dissertation pertaining to the history of North America from 1776 to 1861.

“As the scholarly press of the university founded and designed by Thomas Jefferson," said director Eric Brandt, "a partnership with the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic seems all too fitting. We are honored to collaborate with SHEAR on their mission to foster the study of the early republican period, encouraging broad diffusion of historical insights through print and electronic media to scholars, students, and the general public." Paul Erickson, the current President of SHEAR, added that “the University of Virginia Press is an exceptional partner for the SHEAR Dissertation Prize as the organization continues its work of supporting the best scholarship on the early Republic. We look forward to working with the team at UVA Press to highlight the work of rising scholars in the field, and to building awareness of the importance of historical research more broadly.”

SHEAR is the preeminent scholarly association for the study of U.S. history from the start of the American Revolution to the beginning of the Civil War. In addition to its annual conference, SHEAR publishes the Journal of the Early Republic as well as The Panorama, an online forum for work on the early Republic. The University of Virginia Press has a noted tradition of publishing groundbreaking work on the history of the early Republic and the antebellum period. As a result of this new partnership, SHEAR Dissertation Prize winners will work with UVA Press’s Editor for History and Politics Nadine Zimmerli to turn their dissertations into successful first books. Each SHEAR Dissertation Prize winner will be given the opportunity to workshop their manuscripts in Charlottesville with local experts as well as two invited outside readers. For the 2024 competition, dissertations successfully defended in the academic years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 are eligible. Please submit the dissertation’s table of contents, the introduction, and a sample chapter to Nadine Zimmerli at nizimmerli@virginia.edu by June 3, 2024.