The Living New Deal, a nonprofit public history organization, established the Annual New Deal Book Award in 2021 to recognize and encourage non-fiction works about U.S. history in the New Deal era (1933-1942).
“This remarkable decade spanned the depths of the Great Depression through our nation’s entry into World War II. Today, interest in the New Deal is back as the nation grapples with climate change, rebuilding infrastructure, and meeting the challenges of affordable housing, health care and economic inequality,” said Richard Walker, director of the Living New Deal.
Eligible books for the 2025 New Deal Book Award must have a publication date of 2025 on the book’s copyright page and be nominated by a publisher or author colleague. The deadline for submissions is November 14, 2025. Please submit the brief nomination form and send a copy of the book to each of the reviewers.
New Deal Book Award winners are chosen by a Review Committee of distinguished scholars. The winner of the 2025 award will be announced in spring 2026 and receive a cash prize of $1,000. A second prize will also be awarded, with a cash payment of $500. The awards will be presented during the Roosevelt Reading Festival at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum at Hyde Park NY in summer 2026, to which the winners will be invited.
The Living New Deal, which began in 2007 at the Geography Department at University of California, Berkeley, is mapping the vast legacy of New Deal public works and artworks, which has never been adequately documented before.
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