To support and recognise the work of Australian and New Zealand editors, IPEd offers several awards to members and students, and is a sponsor of the Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship.
Awards and prizes
The Janet Mackenzie Medal – the Mackenzie
Nominations have closed for this year’s Janet Mackenzie Medal (the Mackenzie).
IPEd awards the Mackenzie to an outstanding professional editor who has lifted the standard of the editing profession and/or given exemplary service to IPEd.
The award honours Janet Mackenzie DE (1947–2018). Janet was an Honorary Life Member (and founding member) of Editors Victoria, and served IPEd in many capacities over many years, including being on the first Standards Working Group, 1998–2001, and most recently on the Style Manual 7th Edition Steering Group, from which she resigned only weeks before her death.
The award consists of a medal, an electronic rendering of the medal to be used by the recipient and Honorary Life Membership of IPEd (if the recipient is not already an HLM).
Award selection is based on a written nominator statement from an IPEd member, three written referee letters of support and the nominee’s three-page CV.
Only IPEd Professional Members are eligible for this award. Current members of the IPEd Board, IPEd employees, award judges and administrators of the award are not eligible for nomination.
For more information on eligibility and how to nominate, refer to the guidelines in the 2023 Nomination Instructions. Contact the IPEd Secretariat at secretary@iped-editors.org with any questions.
Nominations for the 2024 award will open later this year. We will make an announcement and update this page once the nominations have reopened.
Download the 2023 Nomination Instructions [PDF, 238KB).
The 2023 winner, Kerry Davies AE, was announced in May 2023. Watch the video of her acceptance speech.
The 2022 winner, Dr Renée Otmar AE, was announced in May 2022. Watch the video of her acceptance speech.
The 2021 winner, Edwin (Ted) Briggs AE, was announced in May 2021. Watch the video of his acceptance speech.
The 2020 winner, Elizabeth Manning Murphy DE, was announced in April 2020 and presented with the award in August 2020. Watch the video of her acceptance speech.
The Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Award (the Rosie)
The Rosanne Fitzgibbon Editorial Award (the Rosie) recognises excellence in editing, as demonstrated in one published work, with testimony from the work’s author, publisher and editor. Nominations for the award can come from any of these parties.
The award honours the memory of Rosanne Fitzgibbon DE (1947–2012) – a distinguished editor of literary fiction, nonfiction and scholarly work in literary studies.
The Rosie is awarded biennially, to coincide with the IPEd Editors Conference. The winner receives a cash prize of $4000.
IPEd encourages both freelance and in-house editors, publishers and authors to consider projects that could be eligible for this award.
Nominations for the 2023 Rosie are accepted from 1 August to 21 October 2022.
Eligibility
The work in the nomination must have been published within the period 1 January 2021 to 21 October 2022. Examples of eligible works include: a book, a series of books (with a single editor), a monograph series.
An editor may be nominated for more than one project in a given year and may be nominated in multiple years, provided the nominations are for different editorial relationships.
The nomination may be a published work of fiction or nonfiction in any genre or another substantial body of published work.
Nominations
- Read the Nomination Guidelines.
- Download a copy of the Nomination Form and complete the details and checklist.
- Email the completed form and the attachments to Nicole Mathers at secretary@iped-editors.org.
- Send three copies of the nominated work as instructed in the Nomination Guidelines.
Key dates
Nominations open: 1 August 2022
Nominations close: 21 October 2022
Shortlist announced: March 2023
Winner announced: May 2023 (as part of the 11th IPEd Conference)
Queries
Please contact Nicole Mathers at secretary@iped-editors.org if you have any questions about the award.
2023 Rosie
Read about the winning entry of the 2023 Rosie (for work published 2021–2022).
2021 Rosie
Read about the winning entry of the 2021 Rosie (for work published 2019–2020).
2019–2020 Rosie
Read about the winning entry of the 2019–2020 Rosie.
2017–2018 Rosie
Read about the winning entry of the 2017–2018 Rosie.
2015–2016 Rosie
Read about the winning entry of the 2015–2016 Rosie.
IPEd Student Prize
The IPEd Student Prize acknowledges excellent work by a student of editing. The prize is open to any tertiary-level student enrolled in an editing or publishing program at a New Zealand or Australian tertiary institution. The prize is awarded annually for a piece of work submitted as part of the requirements for a tertiary-level qualification in editing, publishing or another discipline with a focus on editing.
The prize is awarded in March each year, for work submitted for assessment in the previous year.
The prize consists of:
- $500
- one IPEd membership (either associate or student) for one year
- one subscription to the Macquarie Dictionary for one year
- one subscription to the Australian Manual of Style (AMOS) for one year
- one copy of The Editor’s Companion, by Janet Mackenzie DE.
Entry is open for work completed as part of the student’s course that demonstrates editing skills or work that reflects on issues relevant to the editing profession. Entries could include:
- edited manuscripts (structural or copy edits) for any type of publication (such as book chapters, articles, trade publications, blogs, websites or reports)
- editing portfolios (such as a collection of shorter edited pieces)
- publishers’ reports or manuscript assessments
- academic essays and research papers focused on issues relevant to the editing profession
- blog post or article for newspaper/trade publication/website, focused on issues relevant to the editing profession.
How to enter
The judging criteria and conditions of entry for the 2024 IPEd Student Prize will be posted here in September 2023.
Key dates
Submissions are open from early September to late November.
Expressions of interest in judging open in October.
Winners are announced in March each year.
For further information
For more information, please contact Nicole Mathers, IPEd Administration and Board Secretariat.
IPEd Student Prize Winner
To read the 2023 IPEd Student Prize winner’s essay, click here [PDF 326KB].
To read the 2022 IPEd Student Prize winner’s essay, click here [PDF 279KB].
To read the 2021 IPEd Student Prize winner’s essay click here [PDF 148KB].
Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship
The Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship recognises and rewards the contribution of book editors to Australian writing and publishing. Applicants should have at least five years’ editorial work experience in quality Australian fiction and non-fiction, in either adult or children’s publishing.
Named in honour of one of Australia’s finest literary editors, Beatrice Davis, this prestigious fellowship allows an editor to spend 12 weeks in the editorial department of a United States publishing house or houses.
It is sponsored by the Literature Fund of the Australia Council, the Australian Publishers Association, IPEd and the Australian publishing industry.
Barbara Ramsden Award
The Barbara Ramsden Award is sponsored by the Fellowship of Australian Writers as part of the National Literary Awards. It is a major literary award for a book of quality writing in any field of literature, and it recognises the contributions by both author and editor in producing the final product.
The award, named after esteemed Melbourne editor Barbara Ramsden, started in 1971 and ran until 1992. It was revived in 2006 with the support of the Society of Editors (Victoria) Inc.
The award supplies two specially cast bronze plaques designed by renowned sculptor and medallionist, Michael Meszaros, which are presented to the author and the publisher’s editor to recognise the combined effort of both parties to achieve the final result. The design is of the origin of art, showing the creator at work, and a figure representing the forces that ensure its effective communication.