Awards, Scholarships & Bursaries

Harry S. Crowe Memorial Prize

Established in memory of Harry S. Crowe, member of the History Department and twice Dean of Atkinson, this award is available to the student whose academic achievement in any Liberal Arts & Professional Studies course with significant historical content is the highest within a calendar year. An essay may be submitted for consideration either by the writer or by the course director for whom it was written. It is awarded for courses completed in the previous fall/winter and summer session.

History Department Merit Award (BA)

This is a $100 Book Award for the most distinguished graduating history student in the ordinary program based on the highest Grade Point Average in history courses. (If there is a tie, the best overall Grade Point Average will be used).

History Department Merit Award (Honours)

This is a $100 Book Award for the most distinguished graduating history honours B.A. student based on the highest grade point average in history courses. (If there is a tie, the best overall grade point average will be used.)

Peter Knights Memorial Prize In U.S. History

Created in honour of Professor Knights, who passed away tragically in 1995, this is an award for the best essay in United States History at the 4000 level. Professor Knights did pioneering work on nineteenth-century United States urban, social, and demographic history.

The Joseph Woods Memorial Prize

This award is granted to a Liberal Arts & Professional Studies student whose academic achievement is the highest in one or more of the following fields: British, Irish, and European Studies. It is awarded for courses completed in the previous fall/winter and summer session. Established by colleagues and friends to honour Joseph Woods, a long time member of the History Program.

The Morris Krever History Prize

Named in honour of Morris Krever, this annual prize will be awarded to an undergraduate history student. Both academic excellence and financial need will be taken into consideration.

Willard W. Piepenburg Award

This scholarship honours Willard W. Piepenburg, University Professor Emeritus. Professor Piepenburg was the first Tudor-Stuart specialist in the Department of History, the first Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the first permanent Director of the Graduate Programme in History, and for 40 years a near-legendary teacher of undergraduate history students at the University of Toronto and York. Scholarships are awarded to undergraduate history majors in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, selected by the Department of History for academic merit and financial need.

Desmond Hart Memorial Awards

Five prizes are awarded for work submitted in Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies History courses. Awards are granted for:

• best essay in a 4000-level course (two prizes awarded each year);
• best essay in a 3000-level course by any student;
• best essay in a 2000-level course by any student;
• best essay in a 1000-level course by any student.

Essays are nominated by course instructors. The award is in memory of Professor Desmond Hart, who died in 1972. The best essays at each level (1000-4000) are entered in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies competition.

Women's Canadian Historical Society of Toronto Award

This is an award for a full-time student, who is a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant, with the highest overall average entering the 4th year of an honours program. The student must be a history major who has taken or will take at least three courses in Canadian history of which at least two are at the 3000 or 4000 level.

Lex Mackenzie Scholarship

Named in honour of Major A.A. MacKenzie, M.C., this scholarship will be awarded annually to an outstanding full-time undergraduate in a Canadian history course or one considered equivalent by the appropriate Faculty. The scholarship is awarded in alternate years in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Glendon College. The recipient must reside north of Steeles Avenue in the old provincial riding of York North, as it existed to June 1966, comprising the townships of Vaughan, King, East Gwillimbury, Whitchurch, Markham, North Gwillimbury, Georgina, and all municipalities within this area.

Grace Heggie Award

This scholarship honours Grace Heggie, librarian and historian. Grace Heggie was the first history bibliographer at York University. In over 30 years of service Ms. Heggie built the history collection of York University Libraries, taught students how to use it, and published important reference tools and indices for research in Canadian history. Scholarships are awarded to undergraduate history majors in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, selected by the Department of History for academic merit and financial need.

Bernard Luk Essay Prize in East Asian History

The Bernard Luk Essay Prize in East Asian History was created to benefit students with outstanding essays on East Asian History that are submitted in third and fourth year courses. This award was established in memory of Bernard Luk, an internationally recognized authority on the history of Hong Kong. After receiving his PhD in History for Indiana University in 1977, he taught at the Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong before joining the History Department at York University in 1991. Despite the magnitude of his professional achievements, friends, family, students and colleagues might miss him most for his thoughtfulness and unwavering sense of social justice.