New Zealand Historical Association

NZHA Prizes

NZHA currently offers six history prizes to NZHA members, each awarded biennially. These will next be awarded at the 2027 New Zealand Historical Association Conference.

Mary Boyd Prize

The Mary Boyd Prize was established in 2013. It is named in memory of the New Zealand and Pacific historian Mary Beatrice Boyd (1921-2010). It is awarded biennially for the best article in New Zealand history published in a refereed journal between 1 April and 31 March of the relevant two years.

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay Prize

The Sekhar Bandyopadhyay Prize was established in 2025. It is named in honour of Emeritus Professor Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, a distinguished historian of Asian History with a primary research interest in the history of nationalism and caste in colonial and postcolonial India. He is an Inaugural Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The prize is awarded biennially for the best article by a New Zealand-based scholar in any field, excluding the field of New Zealand history, published in a refereed journal between 1 April and 31 March of the relevant two years.

2025: Amanda McVitty, “Homosociality, Sexual Misconduct and Gendered Violence in England’s Pre-Modern Legal Profession“, Past & Present, Volume 261, Issue 1, November 2023, pp.86–117. Read the citation.

W. H. Oliver prize

NZHA established the W.H. Oliver Prize in 2015, named after New Zealand historian and poet William Hosking (Bill) Oliver (1925-2015). It is awarded biennially for the best book on any aspect of New Zealand history published between 1 April and 31 March of the relevant two years.

Erik Olssen Prize

The NZHA established the First Book Prize in 2017. It was named in 2019 in honour of Emeritus Professor Erik Olssen, University of Otago, a distinguished historian, inspirational supervisor of postgraduate students and of innovative research, and a champion of New Zealand history. The prize aims to acknowledge early career and emerging historians who have published their first book. Titles nominated must be the first book by the authors.

Best postgraduate paper presented at the NZHA conference

  • 2025: Eleanor Black, ‘Unreliable Narrators: Using Gossip in Historical Research’
  • 2023: Ereni Pūtere, ‘Te Aho Mutuka Kore: The Role of Weaving in Māori Memory’
  • 2021: Sucharita Sen for her paper ‘Intimacies amidst Hierarchies: British Officers and their Indian Servants in Nineteenth-Century Imperial Households’.
  • 2019: Phillipa Wyatt, ‘Keith Sinclair and the History of humanitarianism’.

NZHA Award for Contribution to New Zealand History

This was first awarded in 2023. It was established to recognise significant contributions of individuals or organisations in promoting and advocating for New Zealand History

  • as a field of study, including at school; or
  • as a focus of public history, digital and multi-media story-telling, or broadcast productions; or
  • with and on behalf of the community of New Zealand historians, scholars, researchers, and students; or
  • in official and public spheres.

Significant contributions are considered particularly in terms of the leadership and civic-mindedness of the individuals or organisations concerned, with an emphasis on public service, particularly engagement with the historical community and/or having the public engage with New Zealand History.

Special Awards

The Association occasionally makes special awards at the NZHA conference.