This last week I have become aware, via two different paths, of the Henry Mayer Book Prize. I feel I’ve seen it referenced before, but it hasn’t fully registered. I certainly haven’t written about it before, so, now’s the time.
I’ll start by introducing the person for whom the prize is named, Henry Mayer (1919-1991). He has a well-detailed entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, but in a nutshell, he was – surprise, surprise – a professor of politics. German-born, he moved with his father to Nice, France, in 1934 after Hitler had become Chancellor in 1933. From there he went to Switzerland, and thence England, where, after the war started, he was identified as an “enemy alien”. He was among the group of over 2,500 enemy aliens transported on the infamous Dunera from Liverpool to Australia, became an academic, and was a foundation member of the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA). ADB characterises him as having “wide reading, love of argument, and disdain for sacred cows”.
Now, to the award. Offered by APSA, the Henry Mayer Book Prize is a biennial prize is for “the best book on Australian politics (including political history) published during the previous two years”. It is funded by income generated by the APSA endowment established, in 2009, by the Henry Mayer Trust. The prize is $1000.
To add a little more detail to the criteria, the current website for the prize (linked above) says that book can be “published by a university or commercial publisher (in Australia or overseas)” and that preference is “given to a monograph that focuses on one or more of Mayer’s special interests: the media, political parties or Indigenous affairs”.
The prize, says the same website, judges by a panel which is chaired by a member of the APSA Executive, and will “consist of at least three judges (including the chair), of which at least one will be a woman”. (Interestingly, there’s no similar qualification that “at least one will be a man”. That rather presumes that male judges are a given?)
The reason this prize came to my attention this week was because:
- On Tuesday, I attended the second Rod Wallace Memorial Lecture, held by the Friends of the National Film and Sound Archive. Our lecturer was Jenny Hocking, whose book, The Palace letters: The Queen, the Governor-General and the plot to dismiss Whitlam, was highly commended for the 2021 award.
- On Friday, I attended the announcement of the 2023 ACT Book of the Year Award (my post), and the winning book, Frank Bongiorno’s Dreamers and schemers: A political history of Australia, also won the 2023 Henry Mayer Book Prize.
I love it when serendipity strikes like this.
Henry Mayer Book Prize winners to date
- 2023: Frank Bongiorno, Dreamers and schemers: A political history of Australia, Black Inc, 2022.
- 2021: Sally Young, Paper emperors: The rise of Australia’s newspaper empires, UNSW Press, 2019.
- 2019: Paul Strangio, Paul ‘T Hart & James Walter, The pivot of power: Australian Prime Ministers and political leadership, 1949–2016, Melbourne University Press, 2017.
- 2017: Sarah Ferguson and Patricia Drum, The killing season uncut, Melbourne University Press, 2016.
- 2015: Stephen Mills, The professionals: Strategy, money and the rise of the political campaigner in Australia, Black Inc, 2014.
- 2013: Paul Strangio, Neither power nor glory: 100 years of political Labor in Victoria, 1856 – 1956, Melbourne University Press, 2012.
- 2011: James Walter, What were they thinking? The politics of ideas in Australia, UNSW Press, 2010.
- 2009: Sarah Maddison, Black politics: Inside the complexity of Aboriginal political culture, Allen & Unwin, 2008 AND David McKnight, Beyond Right and Left: New politics and the Culture Wars, Allen & Unwin, 2007.
Since 2016, the prize has been alternated with the Crisp Prize, which is offered for a similar topic but with a different qualification -“the best scholarly book on political science by an early or mid-career researcher“, which they define as someone who has graduated with a PhD within the previous 10 years.
How many more specialist book awards are there out there?
Whispering Gums 
One of the study strands I took in a Graduate Diploma of Multicultural Studies at Armidale in the early 1980s was Media – led by a remarkable woman called Ros Paterson. She had studied under Henry MAYER – spoke glowingly of him. I noted the other day that Frank Bongiorno had won this year’s prize in Henry Mayer’s name. And yes, that he was one of The Dunera Boys – indeed – a shameful stain on the British at that time – but of the many hundreds of Dunera Boys who post-war remained in Australia – what good fortune for this country. I began my teaching in Hay in south-west NSW – where many of those men were interned…though when I was there in 1971, 1972 – no mention of them at all existed. Scarcely of Italian – and nothing of the Japanese – PoWs! Not so nowadays, though.
Thanks Jim. I guess we are slowly, very slowly, becoming more truthful about our history. But, as Jenny Hocking told it in the lecture I referenced, historians do need access to records to tell it!
Absolutely we ALL need access to our national documentation! And for its protection and preservation – especially against the self-interest of politicians.
Thanks Jim … not that I thought you’d think anything else.
I’d like to think that the prize’s being in existence means the winning books are all absolutely readable.
That’s what I’d like to think.
Haha, thanks MR. I suspect some are, such as Bongiorno’s, but I’m not sure it’s guaranteed given its academic origins.
There’s a journo whose work I’ve liked called Paul Bongiorno; wondering if they’re related. I’ll consult Dr Google.
I don’t think they are MR, at least not closely. I googled It myself the other day. Both Victorian though, so maybe a distant relation ?
Saved me the trouble. Must be the Italian heritage that creates the literary ability. 😀
Obviously!
Well, I’d never heard of this prize, so well done you!
Thanks Lisa, funny how you hear of these prizes isn’t it.
I read politics every day – newspapers, newsletters and twitter. I even follow socialists and unions, Australian and US, on facebook, but have I ever read a book about politics or unions? The most recent might have been 50 years ago, Teamster Rebellion about Trotskyites in the US in the 1930s.
Why is this Bill, do you think?
I follow politics as I (used to) follow sport – passionately, but without any, or much, skin in the outcome. Mostly I would rather Hawthorn and Labor won, but I really don’t care, and now I am totally disillusioned with both.
Long-form analyses annoy me. I wish for Capitalism and national borders to be abolished. Journalists who write books think that peace and prosperity are obtainable within existing systems. They are wrong and I will not waste my time on them.
Thanks Bill for this answer. I understand. I guess I don’t have any faith in alternatives. Also, I think journalists who write (believe) that are in the minority? I can’t imagine any older human being thinking peace and prosperity are obtainable under any system. Human nature will out is my belief now, and it’s pretty depressing.
Don’t feel obliged to comment more. It has just occurred to me that I have one political book in my TBR, purchased during the past year, China Miéville’s A Spectre Haunting on The Communist Manifesto. Looking further, from a few years ago I have Noam Chomsky On Anarchism and, probably second hand, Naomi Klein, Fences & Windows.
I probably should start reading them!
Always like to reply. These sound up your alley. I wonder if Fences and windows would feel dated now?
I don’t have the option to comment on a nested comment below (in my admin, you can indicate how many nested comments can exist, but I’m not sure if that’s a standard feature, and, anyway, it’s likely not worth worrying over, as you can both imagine where this bit about Naomi Klein would go). I reread No Logo a few years back (sort of along the lines of Bill’s Books of Boyhood project) and thought it would feel outdated but even though it was obviously written earlier it still feels relevant. Fences and Windows, I don’t have, but I’m always up for a Klein re/read, and I also have No Is Not Enough here waiting (but it’s perhaps a lighter option).
Thanks Marcie. Yes I think we can work it out! I’m glad you persevered. I haven’t read Naomi Klein yet, but maybe one day. A lighter option might be good to have on standby for times when you want to read but aren’t up for something dense and/or intense?
Yes, I know about customising the nesting, but in my theme at least, the last time I checked which was some time ago now, the nested comments start to display really poorly, as in they get long and narrow and aren’t easy to read, particularly on some platforms (you know like 2 or 3 words to a line. But, I haven’t checked how they look for a while.
Bill, I loved reading about unions in a graduate class I took called Black Detroit, which was literally just about Black people in Detroit. One of my favorite classes ever, but you see that strong unionization in the auto industry, especially when looking at workers before automation. I’m not sure if unions are doing as well in Michigan today. It’s gone from a blue state to purple since Trump, which is most regretful.
Sue, what did the sacred cows ever do to this fella!?
Haha Melanie … good question!
Phew, there are a LOT of very specialised literary prizes: it amazes me. At one point I was seeking out only the short story prizes offered and that alone got overwhelming quickly (and those are not particularly specialised, not in the sense you’re posting about here).
It’s fascinating to discover these prizes, isn’t it. Some aren’t lucrative, monetarily, but many still offer decent kudos, and something to use to describe yourself I suppose in for writers festival bios! (Says she cynically, which I don’t really mean. Writers need all the boost they can get.)
That’s so true: they take on a particular significance for emerging writers. Like literary journals. An essential part of the process of becoming.
On my phone nested comments get down to one character per line
Thanks Bill … that’s the sort of thing I’d seen … I increased the nesting for a short time at one stage and saw that sort of thing happening and changed it back pronto.
Ohhhh, right. I do recall that now. That did get awkward and I bet some people stopped scrolling down, if only out of confusion.
So, I guess there’s only one solution: stop introducing interesting topics.
Ha ha.. Will try! l wish they didn’t indent every comment layer. Just indent the first response and then keep the rest at that level.