The Edgar S. Furniss Book Award commemorates the founding director of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University. The award is conferred on a first book in English that makes an exceptional contribution to the understanding of international, national, and/or human security.
The committee will consider single- or co-authored first monographs from any relevant discipline. (In case of co-authorship, it must be the first monograph for both authors.) Submissions will be evaluated for original research, persuasive interpretation, theoretical contribution, and implications for policy or practice.
Books by current Mershon Center affiliates and former Mershon postdocs are not eligible for submission. Books translated from languages other than English are eligible, provided they are the author's first book.
The recipient is invited to visit Ohio State for the award presentation and an accompanying lecture; there is also a $2,500 cash prize. Recipients since the award's inception in 1982 may be found here.
How to submit
Nominations for the Furniss Book Award are accepted each year for books published in the previous year. For the current cycle, each nominated book must be copyrighted in 2024 and received no later than April 30, 2025.
To respect the time of our committee, no press may submit more than two entries.
Submissions may be in hard copy or digital form. (If the book is selected for the Furniss Award, the publisher must also send the Mershon Center a hard copy upon request for our display.)
Hard copies: 4 copies to
Kyle McCray, Business and Operations Manager
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1010 Derby Hall
154 N Oval Mall
Columbus, OH 43210
Digital copies:
- Download instructions valid for four readers, OR
- A clean PDF in full and final form, with a clickable Table of Contents
- Send to Kyle McCray at mccray.44@osu.edu.
About Edgar S. Furniss, Jr.
In 1962, a faculty committee established the Mershon Social Science Program in National Security Studies for five years with funds from the bequest of Colonel Ralph D. Mershon. Edgar S. Furniss, Jr., who was then at Princeton University, was recruited to serve as the director and a professor of Political Science. Furniss came to The Ohio State University in the autumn of 1963. His vision and tireless efforts to create an innovative experience in national security studies won support throughout the university and achieved nationwide recognition. The Mershon Social Science Program in National Security Studies became the forerunner and foundation of the Mershon Center.
Furniss was educated at Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley. The study of foreign and national security policy formed the core of his intellectual interests. He wrote on American foreign policy, the Western Alliance, and France. His books included “American Foreign Policy” (with Richard C Snyder); “American Military Policy;” “France, Troubled Ally;” “de Gaulle and the French Army;” and he edited “The Western Alliance.”
In August 1966, suddenly and unexpectedly, Edgar Furniss died. In three years as director, he articulated a clear conceptualization of how the Mershon bequest could be focused for significant results in education, scholarship, and policy analysis. Drawing on Furniss’ leadership, the Ohio State Board of Trustees voted to create a permanent center and thus, the Mershon Center became the legacy of Edgar S. Furniss, Jr.