The Award for Distinguished Service to the profession was established in 1969 by the CLAH General Committee. Guidelines for selection are based upon the relevant CLAH By-Laws: The award shall be conferred upon a person whose career in scholarship, teaching, publishing, librarianship, institutional development or other fields demonstrates significant contributions to the advancement of the study of Latin American history in the United States.

Winners:

2023 John Coatsworth, Columbia University
2022 Barbara Weinstein, New York University 
2021 Rebecca Scott, University of Michigan
2020 Thomas Holloway, University of California, Davis
2019 Donna Guy, Ohio State University 
2018 Steve J. Stern, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2017 Eric Van Young, University of California San Diego
2016 Mary Kay Vaughan, University of Maryland
2015 Herbert Klein, Stanford University
2014 Lyman Johnson, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
2013 Valerie Millholland, Senior Editor with Duke University Press
2012 Susan Socolow, Emory University
2011 Paul Vanderwood, San Diego State University
2010 Richard Graham, University of Texas at Austin
2009 Friedrich Katz, University of Chicago
2008 Asunción Lavrin, Arizona State University
2007 William Taylor, University of California at Berkeley
2006 Georgette Dorn, Library of Congress
2005 Charles Hale, University of Iowa
2004 James Lockhart, UCLA
2003 Thomas Skidmore, Brown University
2002 Ralph Lee Woodward, Texas Christian University
2001 Michael C. Meyer, University of Arizona
2000 Emilia Viotti da Costa, Yale University
1999 Dauril Alden, University of Washington
1998 Richard Greenleaf, Tulane University
1997 John Lynch, University of London.
1996 David Bushnell, University of Florida
1995 John Jay TePaske, Duke University
1994 Tulio Halperin-Donghi, University of California, Berkeley
1993 E. Bradford Burns, University of California, Los Angeles
1992 Magnus Mörner
1991 Stanley Stein, Princeton University
1990 Ursula Lamb
1989 William Griffith
1987 Co-Awards: John J. Johnson, Stanford University
Charles R. Boxer, Yale University
1985 Benjamin Keen, Northern Illinois University
1983 Irving Leonard, University of Michigan
1981 Charles Gibson, University of Michigan
1979 Woodrow W. Borah, University of California at Berkeley
1977 Arthur P. Whitaker, University of Pennsylvania
1975 Nettie Lee Benson, University of Texas at Austin
1973 Lewis Hanke, University of Massachusetts
1971 Howard F. Cline, Library of Congress
1970 Charles Griffin

Distinguished Service Award Committees (Chair listed first):

2024 Robert Alegre, Lara Putnam, Erika Pani
2023 Joaquín Chávez, Sarah Kozameh, Robert Alegre
2022 Paula Alonso, Joaquín Chávez, Rafael Ioris
2021 Reid Andrews, Daryle Williams, Gabriela Ramos
2020 Brodwyn Fischer, Eric Zolov, Reid Andrews 
2019 Margaret Chowning , Kevin Terraciano, Brodwyn Fischer
2018 Gil Joseph, Margaret Chowning, Liz Hutchison
2017 Lowell Gudmundson, Gil Joseph, Mary Karasch
2016 Francisco Scarano, Lowell Gudmundson, Nancy Appelbaum
2015 Bianca Premo, Francisco Scarano, Laura Gotkowitz
2014 John Tutino, Bianca Premo, Robin Derby
2013 Barbara Weinstein, John Tutino, Rebecca Scott
2012 Barbara Tenenbaum, Hendrik Kraay, Rebecca Scott
2011 Louis Pérez, Hendrik Kraay, Barbara Tenenbaum
2010 Stuart Schwartz, Louis Pérez, Nancy van Deusen
2009 John Coatsworth, Asunción Lavrin, Stuart Schwartz
2008 Ida Altman, Mauricio Tenorio, Margaret Chowning
2007 Michael Gonzales, Jane Landers, Susan Ramirez
2006 Susan Socolow, George Reid Andrews, Mary Roldan
2005 William Beezley, Charles Fleener, Edith Couturier
2004 Luis Pérez, Roderick Barman, Sonya Lipsett-Rivera
2003 Peter Bakewell, Erick Langer, Susan Kellogg
2002 Jane Rausch, Muriel Nazarri, John Tutino
2001 Stafford Poole, David McCreery, Linda Salvucci
2000 Steve Stern, Linda Hall, Richard Salvucci
1999 Edith Couturier, Mary Kay Vaughan, Richard Walter
1998 Georgette Dorn, Thomas E. Skidmore, Asunción Lavrin
1997 John Jay TePaske,Silvia Marina Arrom, Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr.
1996 Richard Walters, Muriel Nazzari, Asunción Lavrin
1995 Mike Meyer, Franklin Knight, Susan Socolow
1994 Arnold Bauer, Nancy Farriss, John Coatsworth
1993 Robert Levine, Teresita Martínez-Vergne
1992 Jane Rausch, Larry Clayton, David Sweet
1991 Lowell Gudmundson, John Super, Thomas Davies Jr., Timothy Harding
1990 Peggy Liss, Todd Diacon, Heather Fowler Salamini
1989 Charles Stansifer, Joseph Tulchin, Colin M. MacLachlin
1987 Stuart Schwartz, Richard Morse, John J. TePaske
1985 Frank Staffford, Mark Burkholder, John Hart, Murdo MacLeod
1981 Thomas McGann, Thomas Skidmore, Murdo MacLeod, Lyman Johnson, High Hamill
1980 Robert A. Potash, Christon Archer, Fredrick Nunn, Stuart Schwartz, R.N. Sinkin
1978 John Harrison, Marvin Bernstein, Thomas McGann
1976 Lyle McAlister, John Wirth, Ralph Woodward
1974 Edwin Lieuwen, Woodrow Borah, Stanley Stein
1972 Charles Gibson, Rayford Logan, Mathias Kienan
1970 Lewis Hanke, Richard Morse, James Wilkie
*Established 1969