The Tonous and Warda Johns Family Book Award is awarded annually to the outstanding monograph or edited volume in the history of U.S. foreign relations, immigration history, or military history.
The award honors Tonous Hanna and Warda Paulis, who immigrated to the United States from Syria in 1900, married in 1906, and became U.S. citizens along with their children in 1919. Tony and Warda Johns, as they became known, emphasized the importance of education, hard work, and philanthropy to their children and grandchildren, and had a deep and abiding love for their adopted country and its history. These values–shared by so many other immigrants to the United States–profoundly shaped the lives of their descendants. In celebration of these ideals and in recognition of Tony’s and Warda’s continuing influence on their family, the Johns family created this endowment and award in 2018 in the hope that Tony’s and Warda’s legacy will be felt and appreciated by the PCB-AHA community and that the award will encourage and recognize excellent historical scholarship.
Books that are eligible for the Johns Family Book Award also are eligible for either the Pacific Coast Branch or the Norris & Carol Hundley Awards. The author must live within the region served by the PCB-AHA. The recipient will receive a $250 award.
The deadline for submissions is February 15. One copy of the book should be sent to each of the three members of the committee.
Questions may be addressed to Michael Green, Executive Director of the PCB–AHA, [email protected].
Johns Selection Committee for 2023
Kathryn Statler (2023)
Department of History
University of San Diego
Joan G. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110
[email protected]
Kara Dixon Vuic (2024)
Texas Christian University
TCU Box 297260
Fort Worth, TX 76129
[email protected]
Uzma Quraishi (2025)
Sam Houston State University
Department of History
Box 2239
Huntsville, TX 77341-2239
[email protected]
