| Year | Name | Topic |
| 1974 | Gary English, Moderator | Panel on Old Time Music, including John Lair, Bradley Kincaid, Lily May Pennington, Asa Martin, Jean Ritchie, Buell Kazee, Bert Layne, and Fred Stanley |
| 1975 | Joan Moser, Chairwoman | Panel on Traditional Appalachian Instruments and Music, including John Lair, Janette Carter, Paul Campbell, Byard Ray, Buell Kazee, Sparky Rucker, and Raymond McLain |
| 1976 | John Ramsay, Director of BC Recreation Extensions and the Country Dancers | Panel on Traditional Dance Music, including Peter Rogers and John McCutcheon |
| 1977 | William H. Tallmadge, BC Music Department | Panel on Cecil Sharp in Kentucky, including Raymond K. McLain, Maude Kilbourne, and Ethel Capps |
| 1978 | Bill C. Malone, Professor of History at Tulane University | Traditional Roots of Country Music |
| 1979 | Burt Feintuch, Western Kentucky University | Traditional Fiddling in the South |
| 1980 | Charles Wolfe, Professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro | Early Recording Companies and Old Time Music |
| 1981 | Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and Ralph Rinzler | Music and Change in the Region |
| 1982 | Jean Ritchie and George Pickow | Collection and Documentation |
| 1983 | William H. Tallmadge, BC Music Department | The Lining Hymnody of the Regular Baptist, including singers from the Indian Bottom Association of Old Regular Baptist and Elder Elwood Cornett |
| 1984 | Guthrie T. Meade | Seeking out the Early Kentucky Recording Artists |
| 1985 | Loyal Jones, Director of Berea College Appalachian Center. | Bascom Lamar Lunsford and the Folk Festival Movement |
| 1986 | Bill C. Malone, Professor of History at Tulane University | Bluegrass: Is it Traditional? including Bobbie Malone |
| 1987 | W.K. McNeil, Folklorist | The Relationship Between Ozark and Appalachian Music: Similarities and Differences |
| 1988 | Ivan M. Tribe, Rio Grande State University | The Stoneman Family of Virginia |
| 1989 | Michael Kline, Western Carolina University | Walker Calhoun- Cherokee Singer |
| 1990 | Michael Kline, Western Carolina University | Cherokee Music and Dance, including Walker Calhoun and the Raven Rock Dancers |
| 1991 | Kinney Rorrer | Banjo Styles of Virginia and North Carolina |
| 1992 | John Harrod | In Search of ‘The Lost Hornpipe’: Adventures with Kentucky Traditional Music |
| 1993 | Gerald Milnes, Folklorist at Augusta Heritage Center | The Fretted Dulcimer in West Virginia, including Walter Miller |
| 1994 | Sparky Rucker | Civil War Music |
| 1995 | John Hartford | The Legendary Fiddler Ed Haley |
| 1996 | Betty Smith | A Singer Among Singers: Jane Gentry of Madison County, North Carolina |
| 1997 | Cari Norris | Lily May Ledford |
| 1998 | Susan and Geoff Eacker | Women Banjo Players in Appalachia |
| 1999 | Carl Smith, Kentucky State University | Lined Hymns in African-American Churches in Eastern Kentucky |
| 2000 | Homer Ledford | Creating Traditional Music Instruments |
| 2001 | Alan Jabbour, Founding Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress | Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier |
| 2002 | George R. Gibson | Knott County Banjo: History, Tales, Tunes, and Traditions |
| 2003 | Phil Jamison, Warren Wilson College | The Square Roots: Origins and Evolution of Southern Appalachians Square Dance |
| 2004 | John Bealle | Sacred Harp as Folksong |
| 2005 | John Harrod | A Keen Cut with the Bow: The Art of Kentucky Fiddling |
| 2006 | Fred J. Hay, Appalachian State University | Affrilachian Music: Black Musicians and Black/ White Musical Exchange in Appalachia |
| 2007 | Michael and Carrie Nobel Kline | Where the Coal Trains Load: World Music of Eastern Pennsylvania |
| 2008 | Cecelia Conway, Appalachian State University | African Roots of the Mountain Banjo and Fiddle |
| 2009 | Loyal Jones | Country Music Humorists and Comedians |
| 2011 | Deborah Thompson, Coordinator of Country Dance Programs and Assistant Professor of General Studies |
Who gets to be an Appalachian Musician?: The Place of Race and Gender in Appalachian Music |