Nominations are called for the 2012 Margaret Medcalf Award for excellence in research and referencing utilizing original sources in the State archives collection
This annual Award honours Miss Margaret Medcalf OAM, the second State Archivist for Western Australia (1971-1989), for her valuable contribution to the development of archives in Western Australia. Works nominated for the Award must demonstrate use of archival sources, and substantial (but not necessarily exclusive) use of State archives held by the State Records Office.
Nominated works may be fiction or non-fiction and may comprise any format (i.e. book, article, conference paper, website, index, etc). Nominated works may be published or unpublished.
Nominations may be submitted by anyone, including the author of the work. Nominated works must have been completed or published during the 2011 calendar year.
The judging panel for the Award comprises a member of the State Records Commission, the State Archivist and Executive Director State Records and a well-known WA-based historian.
Please complete and return this nomination form with 3 copies of the nominated work, to enable short-listing and further consideration by the judging panel: Margaret Medcalf Award 2012 nomination form. Nominated works and the completed form must be received by the State Records Office by close of business 27 April 2012.
The judging criteria for the Award are:
Level of use of the State archives collection:
How much does the work rely on archival sources for its argument? What proportion of the cited works are State archives?
Use of referencing:
How well does the work reference the sources in the State archives collection? How easy would it be to locate the archival sources the author references?
Level of contribution to knowledge (historical, cultural, heritage, etc).
Original use of the State archives collection: Does the work use new archival material or use different sources to answer questions or highlight issues? Is well known archival material dealt with in a new or different way?
Presentation: How well has the work been crafted? How well does it stimulate interest in the material? Does the work have community appeal?
The State Records Commission established the Margaret Medcalf Award in 2003. The Award is a prize of $1000.