Stacks of books.

Sheila Ryan Earns National Award for Role in Hillsdale College’s Churchill Project

 

Professional indexer receives American Society for Indexing award for work on recently published Churchill documents

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Hillsdale, Mich. – Hillsdale College congratulates Sheila Ryan, the professional indexer working with the College’s Churchill Project, on receiving the American Society for Indexing’s Excellence in Indexing Award for her contribution to the most recently published volume in the official biography of Winston Churchill, The Churchill Documents, Volume 21: The Shadows of Victory, January–July 1945.

“Indexing, while often underappreciated in our digital age, is the backbone of reference books,” added Soren Geiger, Director of Research for the Churchill Project. “The thorough, logical, and clear index Sheila has written will make the people, places, themes, and stories found in these documents known and accessible to readers and researchers alike.”

Ryan has worked with Hillsdale College on five document volumes (18-22) and has just begun work on the 23rd and final volume. The publication of the official biography of Winston Churchill by Hillsdale College is a major part of the Churchill Project, which was launched to propagate the right understanding of Churchill’s record and to promote the truth regarding his lengthy career as statesman. The project seeks to promote Churchill scholarship through national conferences, student scholarships, and other resources. Hillsdale College also houses the library and archives of Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert.

The American Society for Indexing Excellence in Indexing Award was created in 1978 to recognize individuals who are outstanding in the field of indexing and to promote recognition of the importance of indexing quality. Criteria for the award include the index’s elegance, usability, style, and mechanics. As a recipient of the award, Ryan’s work and The Churchill Documents, Vol. 21 stand as a model of excellence across the indexing profession. She received the award at a reception in Scottsdale, Arizona, on April 26, 2019.

For more information on the Churchill Project, visit winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu.