Will Higgins Honored as Indiana Historical Society’s Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. Award Winner

November 10, 2025

The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) is proud to announce that Will Higgins of Indianapolis is the recipient of the Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. Award, presented annually for the best article published in Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Higgins’ article, “Flying High: The Life and Times of Colonel Roscoe Turner,” appeared in the Summer 2025 issue.

The article highlights the colorful career of Turner, a noted pilot, air racer and aviation pioneer, who owned and operated the Roscoe Turner Aeronautical Corporation at the Indianapolis Municipal Airport in 1940.

Higgins is a former journalist based in Indianapolis. During his career, he has covered a wide range of compelling subjects, including the war in Iraq, Ku Klux Klan rallies in the Midwest and the history of professional wrestling. He is also the founder of the American Association of Linear Bocce.

The Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. Award includes a $500 prize and recognizes an article that best reflects the mission of Traces, presenting thoughtful, research-based stories on Indiana history in an engaging, accessible format for a broad audience of readers.

Named for noted Indiana historian and author Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr., the award honors a figure who helped revitalize the Indiana Historical Society in the 1880s. Dunn produced several foundational works, including the two-volume Greater Indianapolis (1910) and the five-volume Indiana and Indianans (1919). Throughout his remarkable career, Dunn also worked for Indianapolis newspapers, advocated for free public libraries and contributed to the preservation of the Miami Nation of Indiana’s language.

For more information, visit https://indianahistory.org/.