Kenneth Pomeranz has been named winner of the Toynbee Prize for 2021. Pomeranz is a University Professor of History, of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and in the College at the University of Chicago.

Pomeranz was selected as winner of the Prize by a committee representing the Toynbee Prize Foundation's Board of Trustees. Both Dominic Sachsenmaier (Göttingen), President of the Foundation, and Darrin McMahon (Dartmouth), Foundation Vice-President, applauded this decision. “As stated in its charter, the Toynbee Prize Foundation aims to contribute to the development of the social sciences, as defined from a broad historical view of human society and of human and social problems,” McMahon observed, and “Kenneth Pomeranz’s work has consistently—and brilliantly—accomplished this goal, driving debates about global interactions and divergences that have shaped the modern world.” Sachsenmaier concurred: “Kenneth Pomeranz more than deserves to win this prize. Many of his works have become important landmarks in the development of global historical scholarship during the past three decades. They have been intensely debated by scholars in different parts of the world, and their influence goes far beyond the community of global economic historians.”