2018 Margaret Medcalf Award winners
Culture and the Arts Minister Hon. David Templeman MLA presented the 2018 Margaret Medcalf Award at a ceremony on Thursday morning 28 June 2018. At this event joint winners were announced for the 2018 Award - Dr Joanna Sassoon and Dr Leigh Straw.
2018 Margaret Medcalf Award Winners.
The annual Margaret Medcalf Award, rewards excellence in research and referencing using the State Archives Collection.The joint winners, Dr Joanna Sassoon and Dr Leigh Straw, won the award for their books 'Agents of Empire. How E.L Mitchell's Photographs Shaped Australia', and 'After the War: Returned Soldiers and the Mental and Physical Scars of World War 1'. Dr Joanna Sassoon is an archivist, historian, author and academic who has managed archival collections in Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.Dr Leigh Straw is an academic, historian and author. She is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Sciences at Notre Dame University in Fremantle.
At the Award presentation event citations for the winning works were read out by the Minister:
"Dr Joanna Sassoon's book is a rigorous study on the photographs produced by Ernest Lund Mitchell in the early decades of the 20th century. These emblematic historical photographs of Australia had an important role in the processes of nation and empire building. A beautifully produced work, its rich images and accessible narrative constitute a landmark book that will appeal to many readers in Australia and overseas."
"Dr Leigh Straw's book provides a fresh perspective upon Australia's military history, revealing the lasting trauma of participation in the First World War, not just for the returned soldiers, but for their families and the community more widely. Focused on Western Australia, it also links to the larger historiography of war in an engaging and beautifully written account."
The Margaret Medcalf Award includes a $1000 prize which this year will be shared by the joint winners. SRO congratulates the joint winners of this year's Award