The Vera Mackie Prize for Best Blog is a new prize that will be awarded biennially by the Australian Women’s History Network (AWHN). The prize will be awarded to a Higher Degree by Research candidate or an Early Career Researcher for the best blog published with VIDA: Blog of the Australian Women’s History Network in the previous two years. This prize is intended to foster excellence in public history, public engagement, and research communication, especially in feminist, gender, and women’s history.
The Vera Mackie Prize is named in honour of Emeritus Senior Professor Vera Mackie, a leading scholar of feminist, gender, and women’s history and Asian studies in the Asia-Pacific region. Professor Mackie has long been a steadfast supporter of new innovations in digital history and public engagement, including the founding of VIDA: Blog of the Australian Women’s History Network in 2016. Since 2022, Professor Mackie has been an integral part of the blog’s editorial team.
From 2023, the Australian Women’s History Network will award the Vera Mackie Prize in opposite years to the Mary Bennett Prize for Women’s History. Since 2000, the Mary Bennett Prize has been awarded to an Early Career Historian for the best journal article or book chapter in women’s history. The prize comes with a citation describing the the significance and originality of the publication.
The Vera Mackie Prize will include a citation and cash award of $200. Based on blogs shortlisted by the VIDA Managing Editors and editorial team, the prize will be awarded provided that sufficient merit is received.
Eligibility
The Vera Mackie Prize for Best Blog will be awarded to research-based academic blogs published with VIDA: Blog of the Australian Women’s History Network. Blog authors must be:
- Enrolled in a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) program (PhD or Master of Research), at a university in Australia or overseas; or
- Early Career Researchers (ECR) within 7 years from the award of the PhD.
Eligible blogs may be co-authored with more senior scholars, including HDR supervisors.
In 2023, all blogs published by HDRs and ECRs between January 2020 and May 2023 were considered eligible. For the 2025 Vera Mackie Prize, all blogs published between June 2023 and June 2025 will be considered eligible.
2025 Recipient
The 2025 Vera Mackie Prize for Best Blog has been awarded to:
Harriet Steele for ‘The Lavender Dollar: Australian Lesbians and Consumer Citizenship,’ VIDA: Blog of the Australian Women’s History Network, 18 August 2024.
Citation: “Harriet Steele invites readers into Australia’s lesbian history at a fascinating point: the early 1990s when the ‘lavender dollar’ is being debated in the pages of leading magazine Lesbians on the Loose (LOTL). Beginning with a reader letter that asks about lesbians’ relationship to consumption and advertising, Steele makes generative use of the LOTL archive to trace the beginnings of an identifiable lesbian consumer market and citizen, as well as resistance to it. Steele showcases original research, astutely draws in relevant historiography, and makes an important historical intervention. As she notes, the ‘lavender dollar’ has received far less attention than the ‘pink dollar’ in LGBTQI+ scholarship, and more broadly. Steele’s engagingly written and well-illustrated blog brings innovative scholarship to a wider audience, while also advancing Australian feminist, women’s and lesbian history.”
Harriet Steele is a PhD Candidate at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. Her thesis examines the place of Australian lesbian magazines in community production and maintenance from the 1970s to the 1990s.
2025 Judging Panel
Associate Professor Zora Simic (University of New South Wales) (chair), with Dr Sarah Bendall (Australian Catholic University) and Dr Yves Rees (La Trobe University)
The 2025 Vera Mackie Prize for Best Blog was announced at the Australian Women’s History Network’s Feminist Dance Party on 1 July 2025 during the 2025 Australian Historical Association Conference.
2023 Recipient
The inaugural Vera Mackie Prize for Best Blog has been awarded to:
Tianna Killoran for ‘Japanese Businesswomen in North Queensland’s Commercial Landscape, 1887-1941,’ VIDA: Blog of the Australian Women’s History Network, 31 January 2023.
Citation: “Tianna Killoran offers readers a lively, personal and personable account of Japanese businesswomen in North Queensland. Tianna’s blog attracted an encouraging number of readers who clearly engaged with her piece, showcasing how her scholarship has reached a wide audience. This blog breaks the stereotype of the ‘vulnerable woman’ who migrated from Asia to Australia, offering accounts of complex, independent and strong women. This effective and engaging public history captures some of the important ways in which Japanese women contributed to the economic and social lives of their communities in North Queensland. By placing these figures at the centre of their own stories and acknowledging their achievements, Tianna challenges some of the common perceptions of migrant women and so makes a solid contribution to women’s history.”
Tianna Killoran is a PhD Candidate in History at James Cook University on the Bebegu Yumba campus in Townsville, Australia. Her research project investigates the Japanese migrant community in north Queensland starting in the latter part of the nineteenth century and up to the Second World War. Tianna also works as a Marketing and Communications Assistant at Janes Cook University. This blog is based on her journal article in Lilith: A Feminist History Journal.
2023 Judging Panel
Dr Rachel Franks (State Library of New South Wales) and Dr Peter Hobbins (Australian National Maritime Museum)
The 2023 Vera Mackie Prize for Best Blog was announced at the Australian Women’s History Network Annual General Meeting online on 31 October 2025.