Ernest Scott Prize

The pre-eminent prize for "original published research that contributes to the history of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonisation in these countries." Awarded since 1943, the prize is named in honor of Ernest Scott, regarded as the first historian of Australian historiography, and was endowed by his wife, Emily Scott. The winner is announced each year at the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Lecture, awarded a prize of $13,000 and invited to give the Ernest Scott Lecture at the University of Melbourne. Applicants must be publishers and the work must have been published in the preceding two calendar years. Winners must "live in Australia or New Zealand or the respective external territories [of either country]." There are two judges. The prize is typically awarded to one historical writer, although it has been shared between two people and two books nine times. Seven people have won the Ernest Scott Prize twice, including one person who won the prize for two books in the same year (1959). One historian, Alan Atkinson, won the prize three times. The prize has been won by 35 men and 13 women historians, and three non-white historians. Numerous winners of the prize are part of the Scott lineage, a teacher-undergraduate student chain of historians stretching back to Scott himself. Among the future prize winners Scott taught were Manning Clark, W. K. Hancock and Geoffrey Serle; Clark taught Weston Bate, Ken Inglis, Geoffrey Blainey and Graeme Davison; Blainey taught Janet McCalman and Stuart Macintyre.

The Allan Martin Award

This biennial award has been named for A. W. Martin (1926–2002) and is administered jointly by the Australian National University and the Australian Historical Association. The award is to encourage "early career historians" for work relating to Australian History. Submissions for this award are those prepared for publication and can be in any form, e.g. a monograph, a series of academic articles, an exhibition or documentary film, or some mix of these. Seven women and six men have won the prize, with one non-white winner.

Blackwell AHA Prize

The publishers, Blackwell Publishing Asia, have sponsored a prize for the best postgraduate paper at a Regional Conference. The AHA information states that the "prize will be judged on two criteria: 1) oral presentation of the paper 2) written version of the conference paper. The written version of the conference paper (not a longer version) is to be submitted at the start of the conference. The winner of the prize will be announced at the close of the conference."

WK Hancock Prize

The WK Hancock Prize is run by Australian Historical Association (AHA) with the Department of Modern History, Macquarie University. It was instituted in 1987 in honour of Sir Keith Hancock and his life achievements. The award is for the first book of history by an Australian scholar and for research using original sources. It is awarded biennially for a first book published in the preceding two years with the award presented at the AHA's National Biennial Conference.

The Jill Roe Prize

The Jill Roe Prize is awarded annually to a postgraduate student for the best unpublished article of historical research. It was inaugurated in 2014 in honour of the late Jill Roe.

The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies

The John Barrett Award for Australian Studies is for the best written article published in the Journal of Australian Studies in the categories: the best article by a scholar (open) and the best article by a scholar (post-graduate). Dr. Barrett, then Reader in history at La Trobe University, made a donation of $5000 in 1987 for any article in the Journal that was deemed by a panel of three judges to be of a ‘suitable standard’. The prize was dormant from 1995 until 2008.

The Kay Daniels Award

Inaugurated in 2004, this award is named for Kay Daniels (1941–2001), historian and public servant, and recognises her interest in colonial and heritage history. The biennial award will be administered by The Australian Historical Association.

The Serle Award

The Serle Award was first presented in 2002. The award was established through the generosity of Mrs Jessie Serle for the historian Geoffrey Serle (1922–1998). The Serle Award is for the best thesis by an "early career researcher" and will be payable on receipt of publisher's proofs, which must be within twelve months of notification of the award. The biennial award will be administered by The Australian Historical Association.