April 9, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) historians Samuel L. Webb, Jr., Ph.D., and Margaret E. Armbrester, M.A., have received the 2003 Alabama Author Award for Nonfiction from the Alabama Library Association. The two were presented with the award during a luncheon ceremony at the organization’s annual convention in Mobile earlier this month.

Webb and Armbrester received the award for their book Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State, which they co-edited. The book is a collection of essays written by more than 30 historians and political scientists who chronicle the story of those holding Alabama’s gubernatorial office. The book was published by the University of Alabama Press in 2001.

Webb is an associate professor who teaches in the UAB Department of History. He is author of Two-Party Politics in a One Party South: Alabama’s Hill Country, 1874-1920, for which he won the Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize for Best Manuscript submitted to the University of Alabama Press in 1996.

Armbrester is an assistant professor of history and curator for the Samuel Ullman Museum at UAB. Her other books include Samuel Ullman and ‘Youth’: The Life, The Legacy, The Civitan Story, 1917-1992, and The Alabama History and Heritage Festival: A Case Study.

The Alabama Author Award is presented annually by the Alabama Library Association to authors of juvenile and young adult books, adult nonfiction and adult fiction books. The winners are selected by members of the Alabama Author Awards Committee.