NMA Student Prize 2010

The National Museum of Australia and the Australian Academy of Science through its National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science invite submissions for the

National Museum of Australia Student Prize for the History of Australian Science or Environmental History 2010

The Prize will be a certificate and $2,500

Closing date for submissions 28 February 2010.

The prize will be awarded for original unpublished research undertaken whilst enrolled as a student (postgraduate or undergraduate) at any tertiary educational institution in the world.

The research should be presented as an essay not exceeding 8,000 words in length (exclusive of endnotes). Essays must be written in English and fully documented following the style specified for the Australian Academy of Science's journal, Historical Records of Australian Science (see HRAS's author guidelines for details).

Essays may deal with any aspect of the History of Australian Science (including medicine and technology) or Australian Environmental History. 'Australia' in this case can include essays that focus on the Australian region, broadly defined, including Oceania. Essays that compare issues and subjects associated with Australia with those of other places are also welcomed. The winning entry, if it is in a suitable subject area, may be considered for publication in Historical Records of Australian Science.

The judging panel will have three members:

• Chair (or nominee), National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science (Chair of panel).
• Editor (or nominee), Historical Records of Australian Science.
• Director of Research (or nominee), National Museum of Australia.

Attach a cover sheet to your essay indicating:

Full name
Contact details (postal and e-mail addresses and telephone number)
Title of submission
University course (and year of course if undergraduate)
Student number

Your essay must be accompanied by a letter from your academic supervisor attesting that the essay meets the eligibility criterion set out above.

Please send three hard copies of your submission and an electronic copy on disk to the Librarian, Australian Academy of Science, GPO Box 783, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia, to be received by the closing date.

Inquiries: rosanne.walker@science.org.au

Entries will not be returned. Judges' decisions are final. The judges retain the right to split the prize, or not to award it. The winner will be contacted by mail and/or e-mail, and will be announced on the websites of the National Museum of Australia and the Australian Academy of Science in June 2010.

Boom and Bust wins Whitley Medal

Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country, edited by Libby Robin, Rob Heinsohn and Leo Joseph, has won the Whitley Medal, the nation's most prestigious award for zoological publication. The editors received the Whitley Medal and Certificates on behalf of all the contributors at a special Whitley Awards ceremony at the Australian Museum in Sydney on the evening of Friday 18 September.

In Boom and Bust the authors draw on the natural history of Australia's charismatic birds to explore the relations between fauna, people and environment. They consider changing ideas about deserts and how these have helped to understand birds and their behaviour in this driest of continents.

Named after Gilbert Whitley, an eminent Australian ichthyologist, the Whitley Medal is the highest ranked of the Whitley Awards presented by the Society and is reserved for work of outstanding quality that makes a landmark contribution to zoological knowledge.

Further details and order