The John Lyman Book Awards are given annually by the North American Society for Oceanic History to recognise excellence in published books making a major contribution to the study and understanding of maritime and naval history.
They are named after Professor John Lyman (1915–1977) of the University of North Carolina.
The Lyman Book Awards were inaugurated in 1995 and have honored more than 240 books from more than 80 publishers.
As of 2023, the Committee makes awards in the following eight categories: The categories of North American Maritime and North American Naval History were formerly divided among Canadian naval and maritime history, U.S. naval history, and U.S. maritime history.
World Maritime History and World Naval History were formerly one category.