The judging panel has considered entries for the 2023 Ann Moyal Essay Prize. It has agreed to award the prize this year to the essay “Women in Love with the Enemy” by Christine de Matos.

In awarding the prize the judges remarked that the piece states a purpose and follows it through. It takes an established theme, and makes good use of existing sources of scholarship to create a synthesis, with case study examples that address the purpose.  In particular it is based on a wide range of primary and secondary sources and makes particularly effective use of National Archives of Australia records. ISAA seeks to encourage those who “offer well-founded studies of society, in the humanities and the sciences, or ideas of cultural significance”.  This piece meets that criterion.

We look forward to the next offering of the Ann Moyal Essay Prize, when we will again be seeking entries that explore important ideas while showing virtuosity in scholarly method.