The Archibald Prize is given annually to the senior who has achieved the highest grade-point average during four years of study. It is accompanied by a cash prize. The award was made possible in 1928 from a $1,000 bequest from the Rev. Andrew Archibald, who died in 1926. The award commemorates 15 years of work by the Rev. and Mrs. Archibald for the Congregational Church in Iowa. Archibald was a Grinnell College trustee from 1890 through 1899.
Archibald Prize Winners
- 2024: Isidora Bailly-Hall, Parris Addison King-Levine, Meredith Jane Neid
- 2023: Grace Kathleen Davis, Lucie Carole Greene, Sakura Ishizaki, Sarah Ann Schillinger, Mary Jane Uzzi, Ascher Jesse Walker Wilson
- 2022: Daksh Aggarwal, Hollis Bennett Akins, Sarina Kopf, Hayato Ono, Zhenzhong Xing
- 2021: Vijeeth Guggilla, David Jin, Samuel W. Rueter, Jacob Henry Steenis
- 2020: Kathryn Ann Perry
- 2019: Siri A. Bruhn
- 2018: Zachary Hong Hui Segall
- 2017: Shanaz Milou Daneshdoost, Elizabeth Grace Eason, Brianna Lynn Wilson
- 2016: Michael John Fitzpatrick, Jordan C. Hellman
- 2015: James Francis St. Germaine-Fuller
- 2014: Naomi Jennifer Katzen Ramsay
- 2013: Tianxiang Liu
- 2012: Emily Elizabeth Blythe
- 2011: Pengjun Shen
- 2010: Christopher Card Williams
- 2009: Noga Ashkenazi, Henry Thomas Reich
- 2008: Katrina Michelle Honigs
- 2007: Sarah E. Parker
- 2006: Benjamin Kramer Johannsen
- 2005: Moe Hein Aung
- 2004: William C. Stroebel
- 2003: Atanas Djumaliev
- 2002: Jacob N. Rhoads
- 2001: Dmitry Eugenievich Krivin
- 2000: Martin Richard Zwikel
- 1999: Jonathan Edel
- 1998: Erin P. Sugrue
- 1997: Matthew Gast
- 1996: Slavi Trifonov Slavov
- 1995: Scott H. Samuelson
- 1994: Alison Mitsuko Gima
- 1993: Morgan M. Robertson
- 1992: Kristine L. Hauser
- 1991: Michael Sadd
- 1990: Sharon Hutchins
- 1989: May-lee Chai, Ingrid Scott
- 1988: Rachel S. Krantz
- 1987: Douglas L. Duvel
- 1986: Frederick V. Weber
- 1985: Jonathan Hughes
- 1984: James Rabchuk
- 1983: Kevin Lang
- 1982: Joan Flynn
- 1981: Lori Anne Llewelyn
- 1980: Lisa Margaret Bowers
- 1979: Brent C. Williams
- 1978: Susan E. Duffey
- 1977: David B. Chalkley
- 1976: Peter I. Axelrod
- 1975: Andrew Jeffrey Borson
- 1974: David I. Wright
- 1973: Judith Barton Gibbons
- 1972: Andrew Pinfield Kramer
- 1971: Margaret Wall Schottstaedt
- 1970: Roger Clark Swartz
- 1969: Eleonore Annerose Spiegel
- 1968: Ronald Merton Cogswell
- 1967: David Russell Cole
- 1966: John Elwood Kelsey
- 1965: John Michael Young
- 1964: William Douglas Morain
- 1963: Thomas Bentley Christensen
- 1962: John William Chase
- 1961: Robert August Pois
- 1960: John Richard Hoyer
- 1959: Judith Harriet Churchill
- 1958: Thomas Allan Skornia
- 1957: George James Allen
- 1956: George Albert Drake
- 1955: George W. Simon
- 1954: Robert Hugh Bonner, Portia McNally
- 1953: David Frederic Bowersox
- 1952: Mary Jane Bender
- 1951: Frances Fumiyo Nakamura
- 1950: William Harold Lundahl
- 1949: Stanley Arthur Winter
- 1948: Scott Edward Crom
- 1947: Margaret Ruth Tregillus
- 1946: Helen Frances Greef, Jessie Lamoin Ternberg
- 1945: Virginia May Foote
- 1944: Catherine Mary Funk
- 1943: Sarah Marie Young
- 1942: Alice Jean Heinsen
- 1941: Charlotte Ann Riche
- 1940: Doris Pearl Weaver
- 1939: Alice Meacham, Leonard Arthur Miller
- 1938: Wilma Kathryn Altenbernd, Thomas Babcock Keehn
- 1937: Carl Roger Nelson
- 1936: Lillian Arent, Frances Mussey
- 1935: Joseph Conard
- 1934: Jack Maxfield
- 1933: Mary Lorraine Kout
- 1932: Maurine Lenore Jones
- 1931: Helen Louise Kingery
- 1930: Rebecca Conard
- 1929: Katherine Simons
- 1928: Grant Warren Smith