The Vandervort Prizes

Outstanding journal articles in military history, in the Journal and beyond it.

$200 per articleCloses Jan 10, 2027How to nominate238 recipients

About the prize

The Vandervort Prizes recognize outstanding journal articles that contribute to the field of military history. Four prizes are awarded each year: at least two to articles published in The Journal of Military History during the previous calendar year, and up to two to articles published in other peer-reviewed journals. Each awardee receives $200.

The prizes are named in honor of Dr. Bruce Vandervort, longtime editor of the Journal, in recognition of his long and valuable service to the Society for Military History. Before 2020 they were known as the Moncado Prizes and were normally awarded to the authors of the best article in each issue of the Journal.

Eligibility

Every article published in The Journal of Military History is automatically eligible.

Articles from other journals must have been published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, in English, in the calendar year before the award year. The journal itself need not focus on military history: the committee seeks to recognize scholarship that shows the intellectual breadth of the discipline. Self-nominations are permitted, one nomination per individual.

How to nominate

Nominations for the 2027 Vandervort Prize close on January 10, 2027.

Email the committee chair

Gil-li Vardi, Chair, Vandervort Prize Committee · gvardi@stanford.edu

To nominate an article published outside the Journal, email a copy of the article (preferably as a PDF) and its complete citation to the chair of the selection committee.

About Bruce Vandervort

Read the Society's tribute to Bruce Vandervort

On 4 March 2020, the Society for Military History lost one of the most monumental figures in its eighty-seven-year history. Bruce Charles Vandervort was born on 28 April 1940 in Sparta, Wisconsin, just southwest of Camp McCoy (which would soon swell with nearly 40,000 American troops and over 6,000 prisoners of war). Bruce’s early life revolved around the camp; he grew up outside tiny Warrens to its northeast, attended primary school in tinier Kirby to its east, and went to high school in the Wisconsin metropolis of Tomah (population 5,321 in 1960) to its southeast. Whether Camp McCoy drove Bruce toward the military or away from the Army is unknown; he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from high school.

His tour up, Bruce received a bachelor’s degree in history at La Crosse State College (later UW-La Crosse) in 1965 and, only a year later, a master’s at the University of Cincinnati. He subsequently returned to his home state to pursue a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. The pursuit took longer than expected. A Fulbright to France implanted in Bruce a taste for things finer than Friday-night fish fries, and by 1972 he was living in Geneva, Switzerland, where he plied his imposing skills as a writer (ultimately as a freelance journalist) and fell in love, twice.

After a considerable, cosmopolitan hiatus, Bruce returned to graduate school, this time at the University of Virginia. In 1989, he was awarded a PhD in history for his dissertation, “Voyage Revolutionnaire: The Life and Career of Victor Griffuelhes (1874-1922), French Labor’s Apostle of Direct Action.” He began his academic career with a year at Wake Forest before moving on to the Virginia Military Institute, where he taught for twenty-seven years. In addition to his many articles and collaborations, Bruce wrote three books: Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830-1914 (1998), Indian Wars of Mexico, Canada and the United States, 1812-1900 (2005), and To the Fourth Shore: Italy’s War for Libya, 1911-1912 (2012).

But Bruce will be best remembered for his editorial work for The Journal of Military History. He became its associate editor in 1990 and served as executive editor from 1999 until his death, by which time his name had become virtually synonymous with that of the journal. He was aided capably for more than twenty years by his wife, Wendy Vivian Vandervort (née Russell) of Leicester, England. Married to Bruce in Washington, DC, in 1984, she served as the Society for Military History business manager from 1990 until her death from cancer in 2011. Her passing left a hole in Bruce’s life that he filled by devoting even more of himself to the Journal. Indeed, even in hospice care, Bruce continued to carry out his duties as executive editor, verily to his dying day.

Bruce is survived by his children, Mark Cottingham, Emily Cottingham, Lucy Vandervort, and Nicholas Vandervort; five grandchildren; two sisters; a sister-in-law; and his nieces and nephew. He also leaves behind dear friends who recall that Bruce loved laughing hard, serial bottles of good wine, and stimulating conversation. Le Beau Bruce was known to march family and friends across half of Paris, in order to get to his favorite restaurant in his favorite arrondissement for what might turn out to be an unremarkable piece of fish. C’est la bonne vie. It was the experience that counted.

In recognition of Bruce’s inestimable importance not merely to his beloved Journal but also to the entire field of military history and a generation of scholars working in it, the SMH Council voted on 1 March to rename the Society’s Moncado Prize for the best article in each issue of The Journal of Military History in Bruce’s honor. Bruce passed only three days later after a hard-fought battle with cancer, but the Vandervort Prize will continue to honor the man who made The Journal of Military History the premier journal in our field.

John W. Hall with Blair and Vicki Turner

Recipients

The Moncado Prize began in 1951 as a biennial $200 prize for a book-length manuscript; from 1957 it went to articles in Military Affairs, the Journal’s predecessor, and from 1978 an awards committee chose one article from each issue. It was renamed the Vandervort Prize in 2020. Winners for 1960, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1972 and 1982 are not recorded, and no prize was awarded in 1952 to 1954 or 1956.

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2010s · 29 awards

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2000s · 39 awards

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1990s · 40 awards

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

1980s · 36 awards

1989

  • Roger Anders

    The Atomic Bomb and the Korean War: Gordon Dean and the Issue of Civilian Control · Military Affairs 52, no. 1 (1988): 1–6

  • Clark Reynolds

    John H. Tower, the Morrow Board, and Reform of the Navy's Aviation · Military Affairs 52, no. 2 (1988): 78–84

    In the Journal: Clark G. Reynolds

  • Mark Clodfelter

    Between Virtue and Necessity: Nathaniel Greene and the Conflict of Civil Military Relations in the South, 1780-1782 · Military Affairs 52, no. 4 (1988): 169–175

  • Edward Mark

    A New Look at Operation Strangle · Military Affairs 52, no. 4 (1988): 176–184

1988

  • James Sadkovich

    The Development of the Italian Air Force Prior to World War II · Military Affairs 51, no. 3 (1987): 128–136

    In the Journal: James J. Sadkovich

  • Timothy Nenninger

    Tactical Dysfunction in the AEF · Military Affairs 51, no. 4 (1987): 177–181

    In the Journal: Timothy K. Nenninger

  • Brian Linn

    Provincial Pacification in the Philippines, 1900-1901: The First District, Department of Northern Luzon · Military Affairs 51, no. 2 (1987): 62–66

    In the Journal: Brian M. Linn

  • William McAndrew

    Fire or Movement? Canadian Tactical Doctrine, Sicily-1943 · Military Affairs 51, no. 3 (1987): 140–145

1987

  • Alvin D. Coox

    Repulsing the Pearl Harbor Revisionists: The State of the Present Literature on the Debacle · Military Affairs 50, no. 1 (1986): 29–31

  • Andre Ausems

    The Netherlands Military Intelligence Summaries, 1939-1940 and the Defeat of the Blitzkrieg of May 1940 · Military Affairs 50, no. 4 (1986): 190–199

  • Edward Goedeken

    Charles Dawes and the Military Board of Allied Supply · Military Affairs 50, no. 1 (1986): 1–6

    In the Journal: Edward A Goedeken

  • J.W. A. Whitehorne

    The Survival of the Duquesne Grays, 1917 · Military Affairs 50, no. 4 (1986): 179–184

    In the Journal: Joseph W. A. Whitehorne

1986

  • Timothy Mulligan

    The German Navy Evaluates Its Cryptographic Security, October 1941 · Military Affairs 49, no. 2 (1985): 75–79

    In the Journal: Timothy P. Mulligan

  • Charles Gross

    The Birth of the Air National Guard, 1943-1946 · Military Affairs 49, no. 2 (1985): 69–74

    In the Journal: Charles J. Gross

  • Archer Jones and Andrew Keogh

    The Dreadnought Revolution: Another Look · Military Affairs 49, no. 3 (1985): 124–131

  • Paul Douglas Humphries

    'Of Arms and Men': Siege and Battle Tactics in the Catalan Grand Chronicles · Military Affairs 49, no. 4 (1985): 173–178

1985

  • Ernest Andrade, Jr.

    The Cruiser Controversy in Naval Limitations Negotiations, 1922-1936 · Military Affairs 48, no. 3 (1984): 113–120

  • Edward Drea

    Missing Intentions: Japanese Intelligence and the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria, 1945 · Military Affairs 48, no. 2 (1984): 66–73

    In the Journal: Edward J. Drea

  • John D. Milligan

    From Theory to Application: The Emergence of the American Ironclad War Vessel · Military Affairs 48, no. 1 (1984): 126–132

  • William P. Snyder

    Walter Bedell Smith: Eisenhower's Chief of Staff · Military Affairs 48, no. 1 (1984): 6–14

1984

  • Daniel Beaver

    Politics and Policy: The War Department Motorization and Standardization Program for Wheeled Transport Vehicles, 1920-1940 · Military Affairs 47, no. 3 (1983): 101–108

    In the Journal: Daniel R. Beaver

  • George Q Flynn

    Lewis Hershey and the Conscientious Objector: The World War II Experience · Military Affairs 47, no. 1 (1983): 1–6

  • Donal Sexton

    Phantoms of the North: British Deceptions in Scandinavia, 1941-1944 · Military Affairs 47, no. 3 (1983): 109–114

    In the Journal: Donal J. Sexton

  • Thomas Watkins

    Roman Legionary Fortresses and the Cities of Modern Europe · Military Affairs 47, no. 1 (1983): 15–25

    In the Journal: Thomas H. Watkins

1983

  • George Herring

    American Strategy in Vietnam: The Postwar Debate · Military Affairs 46, no. 2 (1982): 57–63

  • W.A. Jacobs

    Air Support for the British Army, 1939-1943 · Military Affairs 46, no. 4 (1982): 174–182

    In the Journal: W. A. Jacobs

  • John Sbrega

    Anglo-American Relations and the Selection of Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia · Military Affairs 46, no. 3 (1982): 139–145

  • Joseph L. Strange

    The British Rejection of Operation SLEDGEHAMMER, An Alternative Motive · Military Affairs 46, no. 1 (1982): 6–14

1981

  • Thomas Hone and Norman Friedman

    Innovation and Administration in the Navy Department: The Case of the Nevada Design · Military Affairs 45, no. 2 (1981): 57–62

    In the Journal: Thomas C. Hone

  • Edward Longacre

    Black Troops in the Army of the James, 1863-65 · Military Affairs 45, no. 1 (1981): 1–8

  • John Y. Simon

    Grant at Belmont · Military Affairs 45, no. 4 (1981): 161–166

  • Philip Towle

    The Montreux Convention as a Regional Arms Control Treaty-Negotiation and Practice · Military Affairs 45, no. 3 (1981): 121–126

1980

  • Don W. Alexander

    French Replacement Methods during the Peninsular War, 1808-1814 · Military Affairs 44, no. 4 (1980): 192–197

  • Harry R. Borowski

    Air Force Atomic Capability from V-J Day to the Berlin Blockade-Potential or Real? · Military Affairs 44, no. 3 (1980): 105–110

  • Edward Hagerman

    The Reorganization of Field Transportation and Field Supply in the Army of the Potomac, 1863: The Flying Column and Strategic Mobility · Military Affairs 44, no. 4 (1980): 182–186

  • Dennis Showalter

    The Retaming of Bellona: Prussia and the Institutionalization of the Napoleonic Legacy, 1815-1876 · Military Affairs 44, no. 2 (1980): 57–63

    In the Journal: Dennis E. Showalter

1970s · 30 awards

1979

  • Sylvia Frey

    Courts and Cats: British Military Justice in the Eighteenth Century · Military Affairs 43, no. 1 (1979): 5–11

  • Robert Griffith, Jr.

    Quality Not Quantity: The Volunteer Army During the Depression · Military Affairs 43, no. 4 (1979): 171–177

  • Ronald Haycock

    The American Legion in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1917: A Study in Failure · Military Affairs 43, no. 3 (1979): 115–119

    In the Journal: Ronald G. Haycock

  • Michael Peszke

    Poland's Preparation for World War Two · Military Affairs 43, no. 1 (1979): 18–25

    In the Journal: Michael Alfred Peszke

1978

  • Harriette L. Handler

    Another View of Operation Crossword: A Revision of Kolko · Military Affairs 42, no. 2 (1978): 68–74

  • Arthur Gilbert

    Charles Jenkinson and the Last Army Press, 1779 · Military Affairs 42, no. 1 (1978): 7–11

  • John F. Shiner

    Birth of the GHQ Air Force · Military Affairs 42, no. 3 (1978): 113–120

  • S. J. Stearns

    A Problem of Logistics in the Early 17th Century: The Siege of Re · Military Affairs 42, no. 3 (1978): 121–126

1977

  • Don R. Bowen

    Quantrill, James, Younger, et al.: Leadership in a Guerrilla Movement, Missouri, 1861-1865 · Military Affairs 41, no. 1 (1977): 42–48

  • Martin Kitchen

    Friedrich Engels Theory of War · Military Affairs 41, no. 3 (1977): 119–124

  • John Lynn

    French Opinion and the Military Resurrection of the Pike, 1792-1794 · Military Affairs 41, no. 1 (1977): 1–7

    In the Journal: John A. Lynn

  • William Shea

    Virginia at War, 1644-1646 · Military Affairs 41, no. 3 (1977): 142–147

    In the Journal: William L. Shea

1976

  • Don Alexander

    French Military Problems in Counterinsurgent Warfare in Northeastern Spain, 1808-1813 · Military Affairs 40, no. 3 (1976): 117–122

  • Russell Gilmore

    'The New Courage': Rifles and Soldier Individualism, 1876-1918 · Military Affairs 40, no. 3 (1976): 97–102

  • Jonathan House

    The Decisive Attack: A New Look at French Infantry Tactics on the Eve of World War I · Military Affairs 40, no. 4 (1976): 164–169

    In the Journal: Jonathan M. House

  • Gunther E. Rothenberg

    Nobility and Military Careers: The Habsburg Officer Corps, 1740-1914 · Military Affairs 40, no. 4 (1976): 182–186

1975

  • Glen St. John Barclay

    Singapore Strategy: The Role of the United States in Imperial Defense · Military Affairs 39, no. 2 (1975): 54–59

  • J. Bowyer Bell

    The Conciliation of Insurgency: The Sudanese Experience · Military Affairs 39, no. 3 (1975): 105–114

  • Brereton Greenhous

    Evolution of a Close Ground-Support Role for Aircraft in World War I · Military Affairs 39, no. 1 (1975): 22–28

  • Clark G. Reynolds

    American Strategic History and Doctrines: A Reconsideration · Military Affairs 39, no. 4 (1975): 181–191

1974

  • Alan Wilt

    'Shark' and 'Harpoon': German Cover Operations Against Great Britain in 1941 · Military Affairs 38, no. 1 (1974): 1–4

    In the Journal: Alan F. Wilt

  • Raymond G. O'Connor

    The U.S. Marines in the 20 Century: Amphibious Warfare and Doctrinal Debates · Military Affairs 38, no. 3 (1974): 97–103

  • Edward Ezell

    Cracks in the Post War Anglo-American Alliance: The Great Rifle Controversy, 1947-1957 · Military Affairs 38, no. 4 (1974): 138–140

1973

  • Gerald R. Kleinfeld and Lewis Tambs

    North to Russia: The Spanish Blue Division in World War II · Military Affairs 37, no. 1 (1973): 8–13

  • Gunther E. Rothenberg

    The Habsburg Army in the Napoleonic Wars · Military Affairs 37, no. 1 (1973): 1–5

  • Ronald Schaffer

    General Stanley D. Embick: Military Dissenter · Military Affairs 37, no. 3 (1973): 89–95

1971

  • Richard W. Steele

    Political Aspects of American Military Planning, 1941-1942 · Military Affairs 35, no. 2 (1971): 68–74

  • Arthur L. Funk

    Eisenhower, Giraud, and the Command of 'Torch' · Military Affairs 35, no. 3 (1971): 103–108

1970

  • Peter Paret

    Nationalism and the Sense of Military Obligation · Military Affairs 34, no. 1 (1970): 2–6

  • K. Jack Bauer

    The United States Navy and Texas Independence: A Study in Jacksonian Integrity · Military Affairs 34, no. 2 (1970): 44–48

1960s · 19 awards

1969

  • Richard Marcus

    The Connecticut Valley: A Problem in Intercolonial Defense · Military Affairs 33, no. 1 (1969): 230–242

  • Raymond Garthoff

    The Soviet Manchurian Campaign, August 1945 · Military Affairs 33, no. 2 (1969): 312–336

  • Honorable mentionFrank Cassell

    Baltimore in 1813: A Study of Urban Defense in the War of 1812 · Military Affairs 33, no. 3 (1969): 349–361

  • Honorable mentionLouis Cantor

    Elihu Root and the National Guard: Friend or Foe? · Military Affairs 33, no. 3 (1969): 361–373

  • Honorable mentionDaniel Kevles

    Flash and Sound in the AEF: The History of a Technical Service · Military Affairs 33, no. 3 (1969): 374–384

1968

  • Jeffrey Kimball

    The Battle of Chippewa: Infantry Tactics in the War of 1812 · Military Affairs 31, no. 4 (1967): 169–186

  • James A. Huston

    The Logistics of Arnold's March to Quebec · Military Affairs 32, no. 3 (1968): 110–124

1965

  • Graham A. Cosmas

    From Order to Chaos: The War Department, the National Guard, and Military Policy, 1898 · Military Affairs 29, no. 3 (1965): 105–122

  • CommendationRichard Blanco

    Reform and Wellington's Post Waterloo Army, 1815-1854 · Military Affairs 29, no. 3 (1965): 123–132

    In the Journal: Richard L. Blanco

  • CommendationKenneth L. Moll

    Politics, Power, and Panic: Britain's 1909 Dreadnought Gap · Military Affairs 29, no. 3 (1965): 133–144

1964

  • Colonel John R. Elting

    Jomini: Disciple of Napoleon? · Military Affairs 28, no. 1 (1964): 17–26

  • John G. Moore

    The Batttle of Chantilly · Military Affairs 28, no. 2 (1964): 49–63

1963

  • Jay Luvaas

    The First British Official Historians · Military Affairs 26, no. 2 (1962): 49–58

  • Richard Weinert

    The Confederate Regular Army · Military Affairs 26, no. 3 (1962): 97–107

    In the Journal: Richard P. Weinert

  • Honorable mentionEdward Coffman

    The Battle Against Red Tape: Business Methods of the War Department General Staff 1917-1918 · Military Affairs 26, no. 1 (1962): 1–10

    In the Journal: Edward M. Coffman

  • Honorable mentionJohn Killigrew

    The Army and the Bonus Incident · Military Affairs 26, no. 2 (1962): 59–65

  • Honorable mentionJosephine Cobb

    Photographers of the Civil War · Military Affairs 26, no. 3 (1962): 127–135

1961

  • Ralph W. Donnelly

    Rocket Batteries of the Civil War · Military Affairs 25, no. 2 (1961): 69–93

  • Honorable mentionJohn K Mahon

    Civil War Infantry Assault Tactics · Military Affairs 25, no. 2 (1961): 57–68

    In the Journal: John K. Mahon

1950s · 5 awards

1959

  • Col. Elbridge Colby

    Elihu Root and the National Guard · Military Affairs 23, no. 1 (1959): 28–34+20

  • Prof. Arvel B. Erickson

    Abolition of Purchase in the British Army · Military Affairs 23, no. 2 (1959): 65–76

  • CommendationRussell Weigley

    The Military Thought of John M. Schofield · Military Affairs 23, no. 2 (1959): 77–84

    In the Journal: Russell F. Weigley

1955

  • Otis A Singletary

    The Negro Militia Movement during Radical Reconstruction

    Manuscript prize

1951

  • J. Franklin Leach

    The Law, Theory, and Politics of Conscription in the United States

    Manuscript prize; a doctoral dissertation later published in 1952