We are very pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Tom Brock Scholarship and Wes Smythe Award.

Joanna Lester is a freelance journalist who has written extensively on rugby league in PNG. Her Tom Brock Scholarship project The Tries That Bind Us: Australia and Papua New Guinea as Rugby League Neighbours will explore how and why rugby league became the national sport of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Australia’s nearest neighbour, and the role of Australians in this process.

Read more about Joanna’s project here.

Samuel Guthrie is an author and historian who has published oral history research projects in both Australia and Ireland. His Wes Smythe Award project Remembering and Forgetting the Mandurama Reds will use archival research, oral history, and community participation to recover the hidden history of the Mandurama Reds and, through them, tell a wider story about community,memory, and change in rural Australia.

Read more about Samuel’s project here.

Thanks to all of this year’s applicants. Go to our scholarship pages for more information on the Tom Brock Scholarship and the Wes Smythe Award for a Community and Rugby League Project.