The William R. Levin Awards for Research in the History of Art

Thanks to the generosity of William R. Levin, Professor Emeritus at Centre College, Danville, KY,
SECAC offers two awards, of a minimum amount of $5,000 each, one for Research in the History
of Art Before 1750, and one for Research in the History of Art Since 1750 to art historians who
are members of the organization. The purpose of these awards is to enable recipients to carry
forward work toward the completion of the proposed project likely resulting in publication. Funds
may be used for travel, supplies, fees, assistance, or other purposes.

Application period opens April 1, 2025, and runs through August 1, 2025, 11:59pm, EST.

For details, please see https://secacart.org/page/LevinAwards. Questions may be addressed to
Sarah Archino at saraharchino@gmail.com. Contributions to the Levin Award endowment may
be made at https://secacart.org/donations/.

SECAC Statement of Commitment to Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
As an organization that fosters creative, scholarly, and educational dialogue in universities,
colleges, community colleges, professional art schools, and museums, SECAC must strive
to understand, dismantle, and resist the legacies of racism and white supremacy. The
SECAC Board is committed to making organizational changes that value and include Black,
Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in our mission and leadership. We are a member
organization that values the perspectives and anti-racist work of its constituency and
potential members.
 
To view the statement in its entirety, please use the link here. 

Any member of SECAC may apply. SECAC membership must be current at the time of 
application and at the time of the use of the funds. Recipients must wait three years 
before re-applying.  

Responsibility of Recipients
No restrictions are made by SECAC on how the award funds are expended.  Conference papers 
and publications based on the project are encouraged. SECAC requests that winners provide 
a brief report to the board describing how the funds were spent within one year from receipt 
of the award money. Award recipients should acknowledge the William R. Levin Award for 
Research in the History of Art by its full name in any resulting publications.

Responsibility of SECAC
The full amount of the award will be paid to the recipient when the recipient agrees to accept the 
award and the conditions of the award.

To apply, create a single PDF with the following information:

* A 2-3 page CV of the applicant including all contact information (email, mailing address, phone 
number, etc.).

* A project proposal, limited to one to two pages in length. Clearly describe the project and include 
a detailed budget on how fellowship monies will be spent and anticipated publication outcomes. If 
the proposed budget is significantly higher than $5,000, please explain what additional funding has 
been secured, or how the project could be modified if no additional funding is received. Proposals 
should be single-spaced, 10- to 12-point font and standard margins.

* A selected bibliography one page in length. Please include a short paragraph that explains how the 
proposed project contributes to the existing body of scholarship.

* Additional supporting materials, limited to ten (10) pages, such as a writing sample. This should 
not be a longer version of the proposal, but rather something that would enhance the committee’s 
understanding of the proposal, such as images. Any included writing should be written by the applicant, 
relate to the proposed project and reflect the writing style of the intended publication.

* Title your PDF exactly as such:
         Lastname.Firstname_LevinAward.pdf
         Example: Archino.Sarah_LevinAward.pdf

* Email your file to saraharchino@gmail.com.
Make your subject line state your Lastname.Firstname Levin Award application and include either
Before 1750 or Since 1750 to specify the award (for example,  Archino.Sarah Levin Award
application – Since 1750).

Abiding by these guidelines can affect the success of your application.

There is no application fee for the award.

Deadline:
Entries must be submitted by August 1, 2025, at 11:59pm. The award recipients will be announced 
during the annual conference. All applicants are notified of the committee’s decision within 60 days of 
the end of the conference.

Note: SECAC is committed to being an inclusive organization and you can help. If this is not a year
that you plan to apply for a Levin Award yourself—and even if it is—please consider bringing this
funding opportunity to the attention of colleagues and peers, particularly those individuals who have
been underrepresented historically.

Past Recipients

2023 Winner- Christopher Platt - Exporting the Splendors of Venice: Venetian Gothic Painting in the
Mediterranean World (before 1750)
2023 Winner- Susanneh Bieber - Inflatable Worlds (after 1750)

2022 Winner - Kerr Houston, Of Their Time: A Cultural History of 18th-Century Tall-Case Philadelphian Clocks (before 1750)
2022 Winner - Elizabeth Hawley, Don't Bump Her: Natani Notah and the Indigenous Feminist Art of Resurgence (after 1750)
2021 Winner - Anna Ficek, Colonial Pantomime: Queen Maria I of Portugal’s Human Cabinet of Curiosities (before 1750)
2021 Winner - Lesley Wolff, Hungry Eyes: Picturing Foodways and Indigeneity in Postrevolutionary Mexico City (after 1750)
2021 Honorable Mention - Andrew Casper, The Artistic, Sacred, and Scientific Body of Christ in Late Renaissance Italy (before 1750)
2021 Honorable Mention - Doris Ha Lin Sung, Female Talent Redefined: Art, Gender, and Reforming Traditions in Chinese and Global    Spheres, 1900s–1930s (after 1750)
2020 Winner - Hallie Meredith, Fragmentary and Unfinished Art: Documenting Undocumented Late Roman Art and Process (before 1750)
2020 Winner - Monica Steinberg, Inventing Lives: Fictional Artistic Practice in the Shadow of Cold War Hollywood (after 1750)
2019 Winner - Yumi Park-Huntington, Emblems of Cultural Identity in Early Andean Art: Engraved Head Motifs on Cupisnique Ceramics  (before 1750)
2019 Winner - Stephen Mandravelis, Access to Avenues of Art: Mapping the Cultivation of Rural
Art Markets through the American Agriculturalist, 1850-1880 (after 1750)
2018 Winner - Andrew Wasserman, Bang! We’re All Dead! The Places of Nuclear Fear in 1980s America
2017 Winner - Ashley Elston, Layered Media in the Sacred Art of Early Modern Italy
2016 Winner - Sarah Archino, Nationalism and Anarchism, Modernism and Iconoclasm: The Avant-Garde in New York
2015 Winner - John Ott, Mixed Media: The Visual Cultures of Racial Integration, 1931–1954
2014 Winner - Michelle Moseley-Christian, Women and “Wildness” in Early Modern Northern European Visual Culture: Picturing the “Wild Woman” c. 1300-1650