Ken Burns wins a $250,000 prize for bringing American history to life

[October 29, 2026]  By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) — Documentary maker Ken Burns has won a $250,000 prize for his “significant contributions to promoting knowledge and understanding of American history.”

Burns is the inaugural winner of the David M. Rubenstein Prize for the Advancement of American History, presented by The New York Historical museum. A prize jury that includes the Pulitzer Prize winners Annette Gordon-Reed and Jon Meacham cited Burns for work that “reflects our highest aspirations.” Burns' many subjects have included the American Revolution, the Civil War and the Vietnam War.  

Ken Burns poses for a portrait during the 2017 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 28, 2017. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

“Always asking the question, ‘Who are we as Americans?’ Ken’s films have brought the history of the nation to more people in our time than perhaps any other body of work by one person, shedding light on our virtues and our vices,” the jury's statement reads in part.

The award was established earlier this year by Rubenstein, the financier, philanthropist and Baltimore Orioles owner.

In a statement issued Wednesday through New York Historical, the 73-year-old Burns said he was “hugely appreciative and humbled.”

“Our films rely on the work of generations of historians and archivists and what amounts to a collective conversation about who we are as a people,” he said. “I am very fortunate to be part of this conversation about a country I love.”

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