Tuition, Scholarships, Prizes & Awards

Tuition

Visit Finances - University Fees for current tuition fees.

Scholarships

Visit Award Explorer for information on all undergraduate scholarships and awards offered at the University.

There are three general types of awards offered by the Department of History. You will find our awards and scholarships below:

Undergraduate Travel Awards

As an undergraduate student in the Department of History, you may apply for travel funds to conduct research in libraries and archives around the world or to present your research at international conferences.

Note: Travelling internationally for academic purposes can be costly. To support your financial wellbeing, students are encouraged to utilize all financial resources at their disposal. These may include financial aid (OSAP), scholarships/Awards, grant/bursaries, RESPs, employment income, and familial support. As OSAP may partly cover your tuition and textbooks, you will find the following Scholarship and Award opportunities to support your research and conference endeavors. These awards can help bridge your student financial gap, and make your travel desires a reality. The funds are typically disbursed toward the end of the academic year (April-May).

Research Travel: Barbara Frum Travel Scholarship

To be awarded to undergraduate and/or graduate student(s) in the Department of History to undertake research and access archives, libraries and collections throughout the world.

Conference Travel: Jerome Samuel Rotenberg Memorial Travel Award in History

To be awarded to undergraduate and/or graduate student(s) in the first instance to student(s) whose focus is on 18th and/or 19th century British history; if no suitable candidate is found, the travel award will be awarded to student(s) whose focus is on British history; finally if no suitable candidate is found, the travel award will be awarded to student(s) who are in the Department of History.

How to Apply

To apply for these travel awards, your letter of application should include:

  • Your student ID number
  • An estimated budget, plus:
    • For the Barbara Frum scholarship: 
      • A description of the proposed research and the specific archives or collections that you need to consult
      • A letter of recommendation from a faculty member who is familiar with your research project
    • For the Jerome Samuel Rotenberg award: 
      • A description of the proposed research and the specific archives or collections that you need to consult
      • A letter of recommendation from a faculty member who is familiar with your research project
  • If you wish to apply for both travel awards, you only need to submit one application. You should state in your letter that you wish to be considered for both.

Send your application to the Undergraduate Administrator or drop it off to the Undergraduate Administrator, Department of History, University of Toronto, 100 St. George St., Room 2074, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3.

Essay Prizes

Essays may be nominated by the instructor or teaching assistant, or submitted directly by the student. Each essay prize has specific guidelines for subject matter and, in some cases, year of student. Please check to be sure your essay is eligible.

All Souls Historical Essay Prizes in Ancient History or in Medieval and Modern History

Awarded to the student submitting the best essay on a subject in the pre-modern and/or the modern period of history, with special consideration given to essays on medieval or modern Europe. You may submit an essay that you wrote for a course, or write an essay solely for the competition. If written for a course, you must receive the best grade in a course numbered 300 or above in history. Either you or your instructor may submit the essay.

Canadian Labour Congress Book Prize

To be awarded to the student in a Canadian History course with the outstanding essay on Canadian Labour.

The Michael Bliss Essay Prize in Canadian Political History

Established by the friends, students and colleagues of Professor Michael Bliss. To be awarded to the best essay in Canadian political history written for a Department of History course. You must apply to the department with a copy of your essay.

Bertie Wilkinson Scholarship

Awarded to the first- or second-year student, part-time or full-time, who writes the best essay in the medieval period for one of your history courses. Essays may be nominated by the instructor or teaching assistant, or you can submit your essay directly. Please check the essay's eligibility requirements above before you apply.

Gender History Prize

Awarded to the best essay written in a course at the second year or above written on a gender-history theme.

Legal History Prize

Awarded to the best essay on a legal history theme written by a student in our Law & History focus.

How to submit an essay:

  • Submit one electronic copy of your essay and a separate cover sheet, both as PDF documents.
  • In the essay PDF, make sure that your name does not appear anywhere in the document, including on the title page, running heads, etc. DO include the title of your essay and the student number on the cover page for the essay itself.  Name the file: EssayPrize-ShortFormTitle.pdf. For example: BlissPrize-CanadabyTreaty.pdf
  • Supply a separate cover sheet (or title page) in a separate pdf with your name, student number, the title of the essay and the course information. Name this file: EssayPrize-ShortFormTitle-FirstInitialLastName.pdf. For example: BlissPrize-CanadabyTreaty-HBohaker.pdf
  • Do not include an application letter or any of the comments from your instructor or TA. Those will not be forwarded to the prize committee. 
  • Email your essay to the Undergraduate Advisor Please include the name of the prize in the subject line of your email.
  • The deadline for submissions is May 30.

A committee of faculty members reads the prize submissions over the summer. Results are announced in late summer or early fall.

Professor R. Birla/History Book Prize

Established by ASSU from money awarded to Professor R. Birla in the 2003-04 academic year as the winner of the Ranjini (Rini) Ghosh Excellence in Teaching Award.
Year: (For Year III/IV) - To be awarded to the student writing the top essay in either HIS470H1, History, Rights and Difference in South Asia, or HIS480H1, Modernity and its Others: History and Postcolonial Critique.

Ziedenberg Family Undergraduate Award

Established through the generous donation of Gerald Ziedenberg and family to recognize outstanding papers and submissions regarding the Holocaust. To be awarded to one (or more) undergraduate students in the Department of History. The award is provided as a prize for the best undergraduate paper on the Holocaust. Selection is made annually by the professor or lecturer teaching H1S338H1 or H1S361H1, based on submissions.

Other Awards

History Student Opportunities Fund

To be awarded to students in the Department of History based on academic merit and financial need to support student research projects.

Applications required by April 30.

Please submit the following:

  • Your student ID number
  • An estimated budget, plus:
    • A description of the proposed research and the specific archives or collections that you need to consult
    • A letter of recommendation from a faculty member who is familiar with your research project

Send your application to the Undergraduate Administrator or drop it off to the Undergraduate Administrator, Department of History, University of Toronto, 100 St. George St., Room 2074, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3.

Edward Kylie Fellowship in History

Requirements: Awarded to a student enrolled in a program offered by the Department of History who has been accepted for graduate study at a university in the United Kingdom.. The completed PDF iconEdward Kylie Fellowship Application.pdf is due in the History Department by May 31.
Year: III/IV

Graham B. Smith Scholarship

To be awarded to a Black and/or Indigenous undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Department of History on the basis of significant improvement in academic performance and financial need.

Requirements: Recipient cannot be in the first nor final year of the program.

Mukherjee Opportunity Fund

This prize aims to help undergraduate students who wish to expand their cultural horizons while pursuing their university studies in History.  The range of eligible activities is limited only by the student’s own imagination:  they might, for example, purchase concert or theatre tickets, take out membership in a museum, join a writers’ workshop, or sign up for photography lessons.

Requirements: Students will apply by writing directly to the Chair of the History Department.  The application will include a short essay (500 word max) describing the cultural activity that they wish to undertake, and how it will enhance their historical understanding and studies.  The cost of the activity may not exceed $500.  Applications will be due 30 September each year.  Applicants must be registered in a History Major or Specialist program, and be in their second, third, or fourth year

The Faculty of Arts & Science determines which students are eligible for these awards. Our Associate Chair, Undergraduate studies then chooses recipients from these nominees.

Abella Prize in Canadian History

Created by friends and colleagues of Rosalie (B.A. 1966, LL.B. 1969, LL.D. 1990) and Irving (B.A. 1963, M.A. 1964, Ph.D. 1969) Abella in recognition of their distinguished contributions to Canada.
Requirements: To be awarded to a fourth year student with the highest cumulative GPA in History courses who has taken three or more full-course equivalent in Canadian History over the course of his/her academic career. 
Year: IV

Albert E. Rabjohns Scholarship

Requirements: To be awarded to a student in the Major or Specialist program in History with the highest combined GPA in the courses taken in second and third year.
Year: III

Brian Mulroney Award

Requirements: Financial need must be considered, academic merit will also be considered. Awarded to a student who, among the eligible students has received the highest mark in ECO231H (Economics of Global Trade)/ECO232H (Global Macroeconomics and Policies) (formerly ECO 230Y-International Economics Institutions and Policy), HIS 264H1 (Critical Issues in Canadian History), or POL 214H1 (Canadian Government).
Year: II

G.H. Armstrong Scholarship in Canadian History

Requirements: To be awarded to a fourth year student with an overall Grade A standing who, having obtained Grade A standing in Canadian History courses of his/her third and fourth years, is deemed by the department to be the best student in Canadian History of his/her graduating class. The student must take a minimun of three courses in Canadian History for his/her degree.
Year: IV

George M. Wrong Scholarship in History

Requirements: To be awarded to a student in the Major or Specialist program in History who has taken at least three full course equivalents in History in that year.
Year: II

John B. Tinker Scholarship in History

Requirements: To be awarded, on the basis of academic merit and financial need, to an undergraduate student enrolled in the Department of History – in the first instance to a student whose focus is on early modern European history; if no suitable candidate is found, the scholarship will be awarded to a student whose focus is on European history; finally if no suitable candidate is found, the scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding student in the Department of History.
Year: II/III/IV

John Fraser Gray Award in Modern History

Requirements: Financial need must be considered, academic merit will also be considered. Awarded to a student whose program in third year includes a minimum of two full course equivalents in Modern History.
Year: III

John King Scholarship in Modern History

Requirements: Student in the Specialist program in History.
Year: III

Marsha Kideckel & Larry Robbins Scholarship in Jewish History

Requirements: To be awarded to an outstanding undergraduate student enrolled in a program in the Department of History who has taken a course in Jewish history. Preference will be given to a student who has taken a course on the Holocaust. Although student recipients are eligible to receive the award yearly, preference will be given to students who have not yet received a Kideckel/Robbins award in Jewish History.
Year: Any

Maurice Cody Memorial Prize in History

Requirements: Awarded annually to an outstanding student in the Specialist program in History.
Year: IV

Stanley and Merle Taube Award in History

Requirements: Full-time, undergraduate student(s) at the University of Toronto in a major or specialist degree program in History on the basis of financial need.
Year: Any

Sydney Frank Buckland Memorial Scholarships

Requirements: Awarded annually to an outstanding student whose program includes: for the first year award, at least one HIS course; for awards in other years, at least two HIS courses.
Year: I/II/III/IV

Stacey Prizes in Canadian History

Established from the gifts of donors in the memory of Colonel C.P. Stacey, two are awarded annually to continuing undergraduate students having completed third year, specializing in History.
Requirements: 1) Student in the Major or Specialist program in History; 2) Student in the Major or Specialist program in History, who has take two or more full course equivalents in Canadian History over the course of his/her academic career.
Year: III

Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Toronto Scholarship

Established in 1995-96 to mark the Society’s centenary, to perpetuate its name, and to continue its contributions to maintaining Canadian heritage.
Requirements: To be awared to an outstanding student in the Major or Specialist program in History who has taken at least three full course equivalents in Canadian History, two of which are at the 300/400 level, in the course of his/her academic career.
Year: III

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