CULTURAL HERITAGE DIGITIZATION AWARD
Cultural Heritage Digitization Award
Application Opens October 1!
Award Description
The Cultural Heritage Digitization Award (CHDA) is offered annually by the Mississippi Digital Library (MDL) in conjunction with partners from across the state. The chosen collection will be digitized and published electronically as part of the recipient’s collection in the Mississippi Digital Library.
The award is available to any Mississippi-based cultural heritage society or organization that possesses items significant to Mississippi history and scholarship but does not have the personnel, physical, or technical resources to create a digital collection. Preference is given to materials that are considered at-risk (i.e., deteriorating physical conditions, threats of nature, etc.) or those that showcase Mississippi from a new or different perspective.
Award Provides:
Digitization Services - 80 cumulative hours of archival-quality digitization services to be completed in August 2026 by the digitization team.
Training - Training to aid in future projects on topics including digitization, file naming and structure, best practices and policies, and digital preservation.
Digital Surrogates - Copies of all master and access digital files created by the digitization team via transferable media.
MDL Partnership and a Hosted Digital Collection - Partnership with the Mississippi Digital Library and a digital collection hosted on msdiglib.org to showcase your newly digitized materials.
The CHDA application is open to all Mississippi cultural heritage institutions, regardless of social, political, religious, or other affiliations.
Questions? Please contact us! Email: contact@msdiglib.org Phone: (601) 266-6864
Helpful Information
(Provided for reference purposes only. Official documentation provided mid-2025.)
Application (pdf)
Guidelines (pdf)
Previous Recipient Profiles (pdf)
Timeline of Events (tentative)
October 1, 2025: Application Opens
December 1, 2025: Application Closes
December 2025: Finalists Announced
February 2026: Recipient Announced
April - July 2026: Recipient Training
August 2026: Digitization Services
September 2026: Collection Finalization
October 2026: Collection Launch
View the Digital Collections of Previous Recipients
2025: Sunflower County Library System
W.R. French World War II Scrapbook Collection
The W.R. French World War II scrapbooks were donated to the Sunflower County archive in 2008. W.R. French, former president of the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors and a charter member of the Indianola Rotary Club, created a weekly Rotary newsletter, The Spoke and Page, during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, he sent it to local men and women in military service, who shared it with soldiers nationwide. In return, French received letters, photos, postcards, drawings, and other wartime memorabilia from around the world, which were preserved in the scrapbooks.
Collection Coming Soon!
2020: Singing River Genealogy and Local History Library
Brenda Brentz Heinsch Papers
Letters, photographs, and ephemera recording daily activities and significant life events for Germans and German Americans in the late 1800s/early 1900s through the lens of the Breutz/Brentz-Hansen family of Germany and Escatawpa, MS. Heinsch's research provides insight into Germany’s social norms and class structure, prejudice towards Germans and German Americans, and poor living conditions in post-WWII Germany.
2019: MS Federation of Women’s Clubs
GFWC-MFWC Women’s History
The Federation of Women’s Clubs was founded for community service. Members have volunteered and led projects in the arts, education, public affairs, and conservation, as well as supported women's suffrage, cancer research, beautification efforts, and a myriad of other projects improving communities in Mississippi and across the nation. This collection includes scrapbooks, photographs, newsletters, awards, and other records of service.
2018: Alcorn State University
Forever Alcorn: Stories to Be Told
Alcorn State University, the oldest public black land-grant institution in the United States, was founded in 1871 and has educated many descendants of formerly enslaved Africans. Therefore, this historical legacy has created a collection of documents that portrays the activities of the facts and figures of the historical development. This collection consists of yearbooks, college catalogs, history books, alumni publications, and civil rights events.
2017: Carnegie Public Library
Coahoma County Cultural Heritage Digital Collection
The collection consists of photographs, manuscripts, postcards, maps, historic and original letters, slave letters, documentations and papers, numerous and valuable family collections of genealogies and histories, and library records spanning from the early 1800s to the current decade.
2016: Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson
The Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow Photograph Collection
The collection holds documents, artifacts, and photographs dating back to early Spanish Colonial Mississippi. The photographs are dated as early as 1860 and feature important events; structures such as churches, schools, and orphanages; Native Americans; African Americans; immigrant communities; priests; religious men and women (brothers and sisters); and bishops.
2015: The Mississippi University for Women
The MUW Archive Photograph Collection
Possibly one of the most complete pictorial histories of women in higher education. Touches on nationally known figures in Mississippi history. History of higher education for women, architectural trends, cultural changes, racial/gender integration, and the history of Columbus & Lowndes Counties.
Eligibility Details
Further eligibility requirements can be found in the award guidelines.
Application Eligibility
A complete application, including form, proposal, and any other materials that address all questions and requirements, must be submitted in full to the Mississippi Digital Library by Monday, December 1, 2025. Please submit the application by email to contact@msdiglib.org or by mail to Mississippi Digital Library, Cultural Heritage Digitization Award, 118 College Dr. #5053, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001.
*We are unable to digitize microfilm or microfiche at this time. Applications proposing these materials will be automatically disqualified. Please note that while MDL will be available to answer questions, we are not able to proofread or comment on draft proposals.
Institution Eligibility
Any institution located within the state of Mississippi may be considered for the award regardless of political, religious, or other affiliation. Institutions, for this award, are defined as societies or organizations founded for educational, social, political, religious, or other purposes. Any non-partner, current partner, or previous partner institutions (excluding board member institutions) are eligible to apply for the award. Non-partner and previous partner institutions must be willing to join MDL or reactivate the partnership. Institutions must be functioning and open to the public to be eligible.
Collection and Project Eligibility
Additional criteria are required per collection and project. Please see our award guidelines for more information. Preference is given to collections considered at-risk (i.e., deteriorating physical conditions, threats of nature, etc.) or those that showcase Mississippi from a new or different perspective. There is no size or quantity limit regarding materials; however, please note that scrapbooks and oversized materials will require significantly more time to digitize. If you wish to include these materials, contact MDL to help determine digitization time.