Prizes · Australia

Natalie Harkin and Patricia O'Brien among 2026 NSW History Awards winners

The State Library of NSW shared $85,000 across six categories, with Wakefield Press, Allen & Unwin and Fremantle Press titles recognised.

By The Book Source7 September 20261 minute read

Australian HistoryNatalie HarkinApron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea

The State Library of NSW has named the winners of the 2026 NSW History Awards, presented during History Week with $85,000 in prize money across six categories.

Natalie Harkin's Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea (Wakefield Press) won the Australian History Prize. Patricia A O'Brien took the General History Prize for Errol Flynn: The true story of Australia's Hollywood icon (Allen & Unwin), and Mark Skelsey's Views to Die For (Trafalgar Publishing) won the NSW Community and Regional History Prize.

Julia Lawrinson's Trapped! (Fremantle Press) won the Young People's History Prize. The Digital History Prize went to History Lab: Caribbean Echoes by Sienna Brown and Ben Etherington, produced by UTS Impact Studios. Each of these five prizes is worth $15,000.

The $10,000 Anzac Memorial Trustees Military History Prize went to The Anzac Table by Daniel Reynaud and Emanuela Reynaud (Hardie Grant Media).

Harkin's book is also on the non-fiction shortlist of this year's South Australian Literary Awards.

Original source: State Library of NSW ↗

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