NSW Premier’s History Awards 2021 shortlists announced

The State Library of NSW (SLNSW) has announced the shortlists for the 2021 NSW Premier’s History Awards, worth $15,000 each.

The shortlisted titles in each category are:

Australian history prize

• People of the River: Lost worlds of early Australia (Grace Karskens, A&U)
• A Bridge Between: Spanish Benedictine missionary women in Australia (Katharine Massam, ANU Press)
• Amnesia Road: Landscape, violence and memory (Luke Stegemann, NewSouth)

General history prize

• War Against Smallpox: Edward Jenner and the global spread of vaccination (Michael Bennett, Cambridge University Press)
• Earthquake Children: Building resilience from the ruins of Tokyo (Janet Borland, Harvard University Asia Center)
• The Wardian Case: How a simple box moved plants and changed the world (Luke Keogh, The University of Chicago Press)

NSW regional and community history prize

• Landscapes of Our Hearts: Reconciling people and environment (Matthew Colloff, Thames & Hudson)
• On a Winner: 125 years of City Tattersalls Club (Marea Donnelly, Wilkinson Publishing)
• The Altar Boys (Suzanne Smith, ABC Books)

Young people’s history prize

• The Friendly Games (Kaye Baillie & Fiona Burrows, MidnightSun)
• Footprints on the Moon (Lorraine Marwood, UQP)
• Tell Me Why for Young Adults (Archie Roach, S&S)

Digital history prize

• FREEMAN (Laurence Billiet, General Strike and Matchbox Pictures)
• Women of Steel (Robynne Murphy & Martha Ansara, Jobs for Women Film Producers Group)
• Small Town Queer online exhibition and collection project (Tweed Regional Museum).

The awards are judged by an independent committee of academics, historians and other sector professionals who have been appointed by the premier, the minister for the arts or their delegates. This year, eight judges considered 151 entries across the five prize categories. The winners will be announced in an online ceremony on Friday, 3 September.

For more information, see the SLNSW website.

Category: Awards Local news