Bert M. Fireman and Janet Fireman Award

The Bert M. Fireman and Janet Fireman Award, first announced as the Bert M. Firemen Award by the Western History Association Council at the 1982 WHA Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and renamed in 2015, recognizes the best student article published in the Western Historical Quarterly each year. The award provides $1,000 and is generously supported by the Fireman family. Award recipients are selected annually by the WHQ Board of Editors. The award honors the legacy of Bert M. Fireman (1913–1980), an Arizona journalist, historian, and educator who devoted his life to exploring and promoting Arizona and Western history. He believed in accessible, readable history that would involve the broader public, and was a lecturer in Arizona history at ASU and curator of the Arizona Collection in Hayden Library. His daughter Janet R. Fireman, Editor of California History and member of the History Department at Loyola Marymount University, helped establish this award to continue her father's passion for stimulating student research, writing, and achievement in Western history. The WHA office sends award notifications in August each year. The awards cycle opens annually on January 15, and the award recognizes excellence in student scholarship focused on Western history topics published in the Western Historical Quarterly.