The 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards, offering $75,000 in prize money, were announced TONIGHT [4 September 2020] at the State Library of NSW as part of the official launch of NSW History Week.
NSW Premier, The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP, said: “These awards celebrate the great achievements of Australian historians who provide compelling insights into our past and allow the stories of our nation to be retold for generations to come. I congratulate this year’s winning historians, writers, creators and producers for their great work.”
The 2020 winners are:
Australian History Prize ($15,000)
Bedlam at Botany Bay by James Dunk (NewSouth Publishing)
General History Prize ($15,000)
The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three Lives in an Age of Empire by Kate Fullagar (Yale University Press)
NSW Community and Regional History Prize ($15,000)
Surviving New England: A History of Aboriginal Resistance and Resilience Through the First Forty Years of Colonial Apocalypse by Callum Clayton-Dixon (Nēwara Aboriginal Corporation)
Young People’s History Prize ($15,000)
The Good Son: A Story from the First World War, Told in Miniature by Pierre-Jacques Ober, Jules Ober and Felicity Coonan (Candlewick Press)
Digital History Prize ($15,000)
‘Experiment Street – the true history of a city lane’ by Noëlle Janaczewska, Ros Bluett and Russell Stapleton (ABC Radio National: The History Listen)
Senior Judge, Associate Professor Tanya Evans said: “The winners of the 2020 NSW Premier’s History Awards represent the finest books among the shortlisted works. More than ever, these Awards demonstrate the originality, boldness and tenacity of those undertaking historical research in Australia, and the significance of their discoveries for our contemporary lives.”
State Librarian John Vallance said: “These prizes are important. But have a look at all the shortlisted works as well. Literary and historical prizes are notoriously difficult to judge, and for me what is far more important than the prize itself is the atmosphere which makes writing and reading possible.”
