The 2022 HOTCUS Article Prize was awarded to Christian O’Connell (University of Gloucestershire)who won the first prize for his article “A Roman Holiday? African Americans and Italians in the Second World War” published in History in 2021. In awarding the prize, the committee remarked:
“Christian O’Connell’s fascinating article offers a unique perspective on the grass-roots relationships African-American troops developed with everyday Italians during World War II. Tracing lived experiences through testimonies, photographs, and newspaper coverage, he reconstructs the positive relationships between troops and civilians in one of the frontlines of the war. O’Connell draws on a range of primary and secondary sources, including research in Italian-language material, to provide a vivid account of how people on the ground navigated complex issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality in creating ties based on empathy and shared experience. It offers a snapshot of how humans respond in the face of war and social prejudice and would make for a fine teaching resource. It is a worthy winner of the 2022 HOTCUS Article Prize.”
Many congratulations to Emma Day (University of Oxford) who won the 2022 HOTCUS ECR Article Prize for her article “The Fire Inside: Women Protesting AIDS in Prison since 1980” published in Modern American History in 2022.
The committee commended this work, noting that:
“Emma Day’s ground-breaking article explores the intersections between gender, race, health, and the carceral state in 1980s and 1990s through looking at the conditions, lives, and campaigns of women living with HIV-AIDS in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, New York, and the Central California Women’s Facility, in Chowchilla, California. Weaving beautifully together the histories of health, the law, racism, the carceral state, and political activism, her narrative powerfully brings to light how the medical neglect of those women reflected the racist and misogynistic character of the ever-growing prison sector in response to “tough on crime” policies. With a sharp analytical focus, Day traces how the withholding of medical care turned into an extension of the punitive regime. But as Day skilfully demonstrates, these women were not simply passive victims of the prison regime. Based on an impressive array of archival materials, including those women’s own narratives, she shows how they found their own voice and lived their own resistance through the running of education programmes within prison walls and by powerful political and legal campaigning beyond those walls. Her close study of the powerplay between the prison system and the women living with HIV-AIDS significantly enhances our understanding of the modern carceral states as much as it contributes to the growing historiography on gender, race, and the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Even more so, Day’s careful portrayal of those women imprisoned living in constant pain and often fear of death illuminates one of the most inhumane aspects of the US prison system which sadly connects the past with the present.”
The committee also awarded an honourable mention to Emily Brady (University of Oxford) in the ECR category for her article ““I Take the Pictures as I See Them”: Doris Derby as Womanist, Activist and Photographer in the Civil Rights Movement.” published in 2022.