The Eagleton-Waters Book Award is given biennially for the best book published on the political history of Missouri.
The award is made possible through the generosity of the late Thomas F. Eagleton, former Missouri attorney general and lieutenant governor and US senator from Missouri, 1968-1987; and the late Henry J. Waters III, the longtime publisher of the Columbia Daily Tribune and former member of the Society's board of trustees.
The honor includes a $1,000 cash prize and a plaque for the author(s). Although the award is designed to be given biennially, the Society reserves the right not to make an award at the discretion of the judges. Any awards for 2025 will be presented at the Society's annual meeting in 2025.
Nominations
Books copyrighted in 2023 or 2024 are eligible for the 2025 award; entries will be evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges selected by the Society.
The subject matter of books nominated for the award should pertain to the political history of Missouri.
Original, documented scholarship in the form of monographs, historical biographies, and/or general studies may be nominated. Festschrifts, collections of essays, autobiographies, and edited works are not eligible for consideration.
Four copies of the book and a letter of nomination that includes full contact information for the publisher and the author should be personally delivered or postmarked by June 30, 2025, to:
Eagleton-Waters Book Award
The State Historical Society of Missouri
605 Elm Street
Columbia, MO 65201
For further information, contact SHSMO at (573) 882-7083 or contact@shsmo.org.
Eagleton-Waters Book Award Recipients
- 2023
- No nominees
- 2021
- No nominees
- 2019
- Michael D. Robinson, A Union Indivisible: Secession and the Politics of Slavery in the Border South
- 2017
- Micah W. Kubic, Freedom, Inc. and Black Political Empowerment
- 2015
- Ken S. Mueller, Senator Benton and the People: Master Race Democracy on the Early American Frontiers
- 2013
- James N. Giglio, Call Me Tom: The Life of Thomas F. Eagleton
- 2011
- James McGrath Morris, Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print and Power
- 2009
- Jay H. Buckley, William Clark: Indian Diplomat
- 2007
- Dennis K. Boman, Lincoln's Resolute Unionist: Hamilton Gamble, Dred Scott Dissenter and Missouri's Civil War Governor
- 2005
- No nominees
- 2003
- Lana Stein, St. Louis Politics: The Triumph of Tradition
- 2001
- Christopher Phillips, Missouri's Confederate: Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Creation of Southern Identity in the Border West