Prizes

Given since 1940, this prize recognizes major contributions to reproductive biology. The prize is supported by an endowment fund established by Mr. Francis Amory.

In 2023, the Amory Prize was awarded to Haifan Lin for contributing to knowledge and progress in areas of developmental biology and stem cell research.

Award for Excellence in Public Policy and Public Affairs

This award, established in 2018, is presented to individuals for their distinction, independence, effectiveness, and work on behalf of the common good. The award was most recently given to Marian Wright Edelman. 

First awarded in 2016, this award recognizes individuals who exemplify a legacy of leadership and a dedication to the founding ideals of the American Academy. David Oxtoby was the most recent recipient of the award for his dedication and service to the Academy.

Established in 1975 to recognize superior humanistic scholarship and renamed in 2017, the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies complements the Emerson-Thoreau Medal for achievement in literature.

In 2023, Kwame Anthony Appiah received the award for his contributions in the areas of philosophy, political theory, and cultural criticism.

Established in 1958 to give special recognition to distinguished achievement in the broad field of literature, the prize is awarded to an individual for his or her total literary achievement rather than for a specific work.

Maxine Hong Kingston received the award in 2023. You may find a complete list of past recipients here.

Established in 2005, the 225th anniversary year of the Academy, this award honors individuals and institutions that have advanced the ideals of the founders of the Academy. Recipients embody the spirit of the founders – a commitment to intellectual inquiry, leadership and active engagement.

Recipients of the Founders Award include Robert J. Birgeneau, John H. Bryan, Richard J. Franke, John L. Hennessy, George Lucas, Jack Peltason, Don M. Randel, and most recently - Louise Henry Bryson. 

Established in 1796 by a gift of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, this is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. The prize recognizes contributions to the fields of heat and light, broadly interpreted.

The award was most recently given to Charles L. Bennett for his contributions to the field of cosmology.

Presented for the first time in 1999, this award supports early-career historians of science whose work demonstrates exceptional promise. The award was established through a fund created by Academy Fellow May Sarton to honor the memory of her father, Academy Fellow George Sarton.

Previous Sarton Prize recipients include Melinda Baldwin, Books Editor at Physics Today and author of Making Nature: The History of a Scientific Journal (University of Chicago Press, 2015) and Cristina Chimisso, Senior Lecturer in European Studies and Philosophy at the Open University and author of Writing the History of the Mind: Philosophy and Science in France, 1900–1960s (Ashgate, 2008).

The most recent recipient of the Sarton Award for History of Science is Jenny Bulstrode. Read more about her studies and accomplishments in the award announcement.

Presented for the first time in 2008, this prize recognizes emerging poets of exceptional promise and distinguished achievement. It was established to honor the memory of longtime Academy Fellow May Sarton, a poet, novelist, and teacher who during her career encouraged the work of young poets. 

dg nanouk okpik is the most recent recipient.

First presented in 2000, this award recognizes the extraordinary contributions of individuals who share the commitment of the Academy’s founders, a group of patriots who devoted their lives to promoting the arts and sciences in service to the nation.

Recipients of the Scholar-Patriot Award include Leo L. Beranek, Louis W. Cabot, William T. Golden, Edward M. Kennedy, Mort Mandel, Yo-Yo Ma and most recently - Nancy C. Andrews. 

First awarded in 1974, this prize was established to honor the noted sociologist and former president of the Academy. The prize is awarded for contributions to the social sciences (broadly defined). An effort is made to rotate the prize among the various social science disciplines, including law, history, and linguistics.

Robert Putnam most recently received this prize in 2023. You may find a complete list of past recipients here.