The Wayland D. Hand Prize is an award given by the History and Folklore section of the American Folklore Society (AFS) for the best book combining historical and folkloristic methods and materials.
The biennial prize honors the eminent folklorist Wayland D. Hand (1907-1986), a former president of the American Folklore Society (1955-1967) who in his teaching and scholarship encouraged historical methodology in folklore research.
[3] A work offered for consideration can be an authored book, edited volume, reference work, or exhibition catalog published in the previous two years (prior to the deadline of June 1).
[4] Occasionally the prize is shared between two winners and Honorable Mentions can also be listed.
[5] The Israeli historian Guy Beiner is the only person to date to have won the Wayland D. Hand Prize twice: in 2008 for his book Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory (University of Wisconsin Press) and in 2020 for his book Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster (Oxford University Press), both titles also won a number of other prizes relating to history and folklore.