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ARANZ Awards

ARANZ recognises exceptional achievement and service to the association and contributions to the profession, via the awarding of an annual prize for an outstanding essay, and an outstanding piece of published writing that utilises archives and records.

THE MICHAEL STANDISH PRIZE

The Michael Standish Prize honours the first permanent Chief Archivist of the National Archives, and architect of the 1957 Archives Act. He can be considered the father figure of the modern Archives New Zealand. It is awarded biennially. 

This prize recognises an outstanding essay, by an ARANZ member who is a New Zealand archivist or records manager, dealing with some facet of archives or records administration, history, theory and, or methodology and published in Archifacts or another recognised archives, records management, or other appropriate journal or form within New Zealand or internationally. 

ARANZ Council is delighted to advise that the prize has been increased to $500.   

Please send your nominations for the Michael Standish Prize to: Tom Riley

Year AwardedRecipientEssay Title
2001Janine Delaney"Redefining the Role for Collecting Archives in an Electronic Paradigm"
2003Chris Hurley"Recordkeeping, Document Destruction,and the Law" (published in Archives & Manuscripts, Nov, 2002).
2005Adam StapletonContinuum in Context: Post-Eighteenth Century Archival Theory and the Records Continuum Model(published in Archifacts April 2005)
2006David Colquhoun"The pioneers are steadily passing to the great beyond" : early collecting and the National Historical Collection"(published in Archifacts October 2005.)
2009Virginia Gow"One prison cell per government department"? An overview of the post-modern approach to archival theory. (published in Archifacts, 2008)
2011Kay Sanderson"Personal archives and chaotic conceptions" (published in Archifacts, October 2010)
2013Dr Susan Skudder"Appraising Land Information New Zealand's legacy paper records", Archifacts, April 2011
2015Ken Scadden"The Marists and Māori - Records of a 175 Year Relationship", Archifacts, October 2013
2016Jared Davidson"The Colonial Continnuum: Archives, Access, and Power", Archifacts, April 2015 [special ARANZ40 award]
2018Belinda Battley"Rights in records for children in out-of-home care”, Archifacts, April -October 2017
2020Elizabeth Charlton"Reappraisal and deaccessioning: Applying a ‘Dangerous Practices’ in New Zealand", Reappraisal and Deaccessioning in Archives and Special Collections, 2019
2022Valerie LovePreserving Personal Social Media Accounts, Now and into the Future

THE IAN WARDS PRIZE

The Ian Wards Prize honours the contribution to New Zealand scholarship of Ian McLean Wards, Chief Government Historian between 1968 and 1983, and, through his actions and unceasing advocacy over a period of more than 50 years, one of the principal architects of New Zealand’s modern archives system. 

This annual prize recognises a published work which makes substantial, imaginative and exemplary use of New Zealand archives and records. The publication must appropriately and fully reference the archives and records used. 

ARANZ Council is delighted to advise that the prize has been increased to $500. Works published in New Zealand in 2023, which meet the above criteria, are eligible for entry. 

Please send your nominations for the 2024 Ian Wards Prize to: Tom Riley before 31 March 2024.

Year Awarded    Recipient   Publication Title
2001Bary GustafsonHis Way: A Biography of Robert Muldoon
2002Jim McAloonNo Idle Rich: the wealthy in Canterbury& Otago, 1840-1914
2003Philip TempleA Sort of Conscience
2004Malcolm McKinnonTreasury: The New Zealand Treasury, 1840-2000
2005Greg RyanThe Making of New Zealand Cricket 1832-1914
2006Melanie NolanKin : a collective biography of a working-class New Zealand
2009Jock Phillips & T.J. HearnSettlers: New Zealand immigrants from England, Oreland and Scotland, 1800-1945
2010Adrian Humphris & Geoff MewRing around the city: Wellington’s new suburbs, 1900-1930
2011A.R.H. JonesDoing well and doing good: Ross & Glendining, Scottish enterprise in New Zealand
2012 - Joint AwardRobert PedenMaking Sheep Country: Mt Peel Station and the Making of the Tussock Lands (AUP)
Charlotte MacdonaldStrong, Beautiful and Modern: National Fitness in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada (BWB)
2013Alison ClarkeBorn to a Changing World: Childbirth in Nineteenth Century New Zealand (BWB)
2014Peter HollandHome in the Howling Wilderness: Settlers and the Environment in Southern New Zealand (Otago UP)
2015Tom BrookingRichard Seddon: King of God's Own: the Life and times of New Zealand's Longest Serving Prime Minister (Penguin)
2016Donald KerrHocken: Prince of Collectors (OtagoUP)
2017Jessie MunroVoices of belonging : a history of Clevedon-TeWairoa (Steele Roberts Aotearoa)
2018 - Joint AwardShaunnagh DorsetJuridical Encounters: Maori and the Colonial Courts 1840-1852 (AUP)
Jane McCabeRace, Tea and Colonial Settlement: Imperial Families, Interrupted (Bloomsbury)
2019Roger BlackleyGalleries of Maoriland: Artists, Collectors and the Māori (World Auckland University Press)
2020Sarah GaitanosShirley Smith: an Examined Life (Victoria University Press, Wellington)
2021Vivien EdwardsA Path Through The Trees: Mary Sutherland - Forester, Botanist and Women's Advocate (Writes Hill Press, Wellington)
2022Lucy MackintoshShifting Grounds: Deep Histories of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (BWB)