U.S. Post Office Scholarships
The United States Postal Service (USPS) gives two awards annually for scholarly work on the history of the American Postal System. The awards are named in honor of the USPS's in-house historian from 1973 to 1991, Rita Lloyd Moroney. The scholarship program is designed to encourage research into the institution's history and raise awareness of its significance.
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Overview of Grants
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The USPS has two Moroney awards available annually. The junior prize is in the amount of $1,000 and given through scholarship completed by undergraduate or graduate students. The senior prize is in the amount of $2,000 and given to work completed by university faculty members, public scholars and independent historians. One or both prizes may not be awarded in any given year if no entries are deemed suitable by the review committee.
Eligibility
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Submissions must be about any topic within the context of the history of the American postal system. However, the submissions can be in the form of literature, geography, cultural studies, or even comparative studies so long as the U.S. postal service is central to the piece. In order to be eligible, entries must have been published or presented within three years prior to the application deadline. Entries can be resubmitted if they do not win a prize, as long as their eligibility remains intact.
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Selection Criteria
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When awarding the prizes, the committee asks how the piece contributes to the understanding of the significance of the postal system and its role in American history. The committee also looks to originality of argument, creative use of sources, quality of writing and use of academic work in the field.
Deadline and Submission
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Submissions are due December 1, and winners are announced the following April. Candidates must submit three copies of their work to Professor Richard Kielbowicz at the University of Washington and include a cover letter that confirms the submission meets the eligibility requirements of the competition.
Past Winners
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The Moroney prizes were first awarded in 2007. Since that time, senior award winners have written on such topics as industrial tourism and the picture postcard, post office policy and the first amendment, and the personal correspondence of British Immigrants to America in the nineteenth century. Junior award-winning topics have included stamp collecting from the 1880s to the 1930s, mail censorship during the first world war, and post office design guidelines.
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