Supported by Ian Jobling, this annual prize aims to reward and encourage high quality research. The prize consists of $250 AUD for the best research article published in Sporting Traditions each volume as judged by the journal Editor(s). All research articles published in a particular volume (and year) are automatically eligible for the prize. The prize will be announced at the end of the relevant year, or early the following year, with the award formally recognised at the next Sporting Traditions conference. 

The editors are pleased to announce that the inaugural 2025 (Volume 42) Sporting Traditions Best Article Prize is awarded to:

Eliezer Rubenstein Sturgess, ‘Covering the field: Herbert Vere Evatt’s notable contribution to Australian cricket’. (November 2025: 167-192).

Abstract: Herbert Vere Evatt (1894–1965) is one of the most accomplished figures of Australian history, attracting historians’attention due to his decorated and dramatic public life. While his notable career in law and politics has been well covered, there is one area of his life consistently overlooked and underplayed: his devotion to Australian cricket. Evatt made significant contributions to Australian cricket in his public life, as an administrator from the local level to the international stage, as a cricket writer, and as an involved spectator. Moreover, Evatt sometimes used his ministerial clout for cricketing ends. This article fills the chasm of past historical blind spots, moving cricket from the perceived periphery of Evatt’s public life into central view, noting Evatt’s importance to Australian cricket history, and challenging academic biases that overlook the role of sport in Australian cultural history