The winners of the 2026 Historian Awards were announced at the History Festival closing event at the Piccadilly Theatre on Sunday the 31st of May.

Author and curator Tim Reeves has been named South Australia’s 2026 Historian of the Year in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the state’s architectural and gay history.

The annual Historian Awards, presented by the History Council of South Australia and announced in conjunction with the History Trust of South Australia at today’s finale of South Australia’s History Festival, celebrate individuals and groups making an exceptional contribution to the preservation, promotion and understanding of South Australian history.

A respected independent historian, author and curator, Mr Reeves has spent decades bringing South Australian stories to wider audiences through books, exhibitions, public talks and scholarly research. Over the past 18 months alone, his contribution has been extraordinary, including major exhibitions for the State Library of South Australia and acclaimed publications exploring Adelaide’s modernist heritage and the history of gay law reform.

Mr Reeves is widely regarded as a leading authority on the history of gay rights in South Australia, particularly the legacy of Dr Duncan and the state’s landmark decriminalisation reforms. His work has included books, journal articles, public interpretation projects and consultancy roles, helping to preserve and share stories central to South Australia’s social
history.

“Tim Reeves exemplifies the very best of South Australian history,” says HCSA president Matthew Fitzpatrick. “His scholarship is rigorous, his contribution to public history is immense, and his generosity in sharing knowledge with the community has enriched our understanding of South Australia’s past.”

The HCSA Historian Awards were launched in 2012 and recognise excellence across a broad range of historical practice. Prof Fitzpatrick says this year’s winners reflect the diversity, creativity and dedication within South Australia’s history community.

Additional 2026 History Award recipients:

• Emerging Historian: Taylor Lupp – For innovative research including uncovering the site of Colonel William Light’s 1836 survey camp at Rapid Bay and bringing new understanding to South Australia’s early colonial history.
• Lifelong Historian: Dr Geoffrey Bishop – For decades of dedicated leadership, scholarship and volunteer service preserving South Australia’s community and institutional history.
• Digital Technologies Historian: Daniel Clarke – For using documentary filmmaking and digital storytelling to preserve and share Kangaroo Island’s environmental, maritime and community histories.
• Contribution to Regional or Community History: Loxton Historical Village – For its enduring commitment to preserving and sharing Riverland history through immersive heritage experiences, volunteerism and community engagement.
• Excellence in Oral History: Birutė Beal – For preserving the stories of Lithuanian post-war migrants through dedicated oral history and archival work.
• Wakefield Press Essay Prize: Samuel Cox – Author of the essay Phoenix Journal: The “pilot-ship” of Australian Modernism, a stunning work of cultural history that brings 1930s Adelaide alive as a literary and artistic centre.
• Wakefield Essay Special Commendation: Stephen Valambras Graham’s ‘Framing Virtue: Public Portraits and Civic Identity in Victorian Adelaide’, which discusses portraiture in colonial Adelaide, highlighting its social and cultural logic in a society still searching to express itself.

“South Australia has an extraordinary history filled with remarkable people, communities and events that continue to define and shape who we are today,” says Wakefield Press publisher Michael Bollen. “At Wakefield Press, we’re proud to support historians and storytellers, and dedicated to publishing SA history that might otherwise be forgotten.”

All award winners receive statewide recognition, a year’s membership to the History Council of South Australia and a book voucher from Wakefield Press. The winner of the Excellence in Oral History Award also receives a year’s membership to Oral History Australia SA/NT.