Franz Steiner Prize Ceremony 2015

On May 28th, 2015, the Franz Steiner Prize, offered biennially for the best German or English-language manuscript in transatlantic and North American studies, was awarded to GHI Research Fellow Elisabeth Engel for her outstanding dissertation "Encountering Empire: African American Missionaries in Colonial Africa, 1900-1939." The prize is awarded by the GHI Washington and the Franz Steiner Verlag in Stuttgart, which publishes the GHI's book series Transatlantische Historische Studien (Transatlantic Historical Studies; THS). It carries an honorarium of 3500 Euro and includes publication of the award-winning manuscript in the THS book series. The award was presented by Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson, GHI Deputy Director, and Thomas Schaber, editor-in-chief of the Franz Steiner Verlag, in a ceremony that was part of the festive opening of the annual meeting of the German Association of American Studies (GAAS) in the Great Auditorium of the University of Bonn. Organized by Sabine Sielke, Director of the North American Studies Program in Bonn, it was framed by beautiful acapella music performed by the Jazz Choir of the University of Bonn and attended by over 500 people, including U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson, U.S. Consul General Kevin C. Milas, Lord Mayor of Bonn Jürgen Nimptsch, GAAS President Carmen Birkle, and the Rector of University of Bonn, Michael Hoch. After briefly introducing the GHI and the THS series, Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson delivered the prize citation honoring this groundbreaking study, which follows in abbreviated form here: