The ANZSI Indexing Awards comprise the John Simkin Medal and Highly Commended commendations. The awards have been offered at differing periods since 1985, and from 2016 the event was intended to be biennial, although this pattern has been disrupted by the COVID pandemic.
The Medal is awarded for an outstanding index, as assessed by the Judging Panel. Judges may decide that no nomination satisfies the criteria and thus no Medal is awarded, and judges may or may not make ‘Highly Commended’ awards. See the Medal winners page for the list of winners.
No Medal was awarded in 2015, 2016 or 2018, and the 2020 awards were postponed until 2021-22 due to the COVID pandemic.
The indexes listed below received Highly Commended certificates. This commendation is not necessarily awarded in every Award year.
In addition, ‘Commended’ Awards were made in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2015. Their winners are listed at the end of this page. The ‘Commended’ category of award is no longer made.
Use the Look Inside feature on linked titles below to view their indexes.
Leading names in bold are the names of the indexers who were Highly Commended.
Highly Commended indexes
2021
Sherrey Quinn. Geocultural power: China’s quest to revive silk roads for the twenty-first century, by Tim Winter (University of Chicago Press, 2019)
2016
Sherrey Quinn. Global implications of development, disasters and climate change: responses to displacement from Asia Pacific, edited by Susanna Price and Jane Singer (Routledge, 2016)
2008
Glenda Browne. The indexing companion, by Glenda Browne and Jon Jermey (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
2004
Max McMaster. Biology: an Australian focus, by Pauline Ladiges, Barbara Evans, Robert Saint and Bruce Knox 3rd edition (McGraw Hill Australia, 2005)
2003
Garry Cousins. Dark victory, by David Marr and Marian Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin, 2003)
2001
Trevor Matthews. Ecological pioneers: a social history of Australian ecological thought and action, by Martin Mulligan and Stuart Hill (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
2000
Madeleine Davis. Frank Lowy: pushing the limits, by Jill Margo (HarperCollins, 2000)
1999
Max McMaster. Flora of Victoria, volume 4: Dicotyledons Cornaceae to Asteraceae, editors, N. G. Walsh and T. J. Entwistle (Inkata Press, 1999)
1998
Clodagh Jones. The journal of Annie Baxter Dawbin, July 1838–May 1868, edited by Lucy Frost (University of Queensland Press, 1997)
1997
Clodagh Jones. The silence calling: Australians in Antarctica, 1947–97, by Tim Bowden (Allen & Unwin, 1997)
Max McMaster. Exploring Central Australia: society, the environment and the 1894 Horn expedition, edited by S. R. Morton and D. J. Mulvaney (Surrey Beatty & Sons, 1996)
Dorothy Prescott. A guide to maps of Australia in books published 1780–1830: an annotated cartobibliography, compiled by T. M. Perry and Dorothy Prescott (National Library of Australia, 1996)
1995
Glenda Browne. Pharmacology and drug information for nurses (Harcourt Brace and Company, 1995)
Pamela Johnstone. Online currents, volume 9, 1994 (Enterprise Information Management, 1995)
1994
Patricia Holt. A history of Hawthorn, by Victoria M. Peel, Deborah R. Zion and Jane Yule (Melbourne University Press, 1993)
Kingsley Siebel. The laws of Australia, volume 5: Civil procedure (Law Book Company, 1994)
Geraldine Suter. Australian criminal justice, by Mark Findlay, Stephen Odgers and Stanley Yeo (Oxford University Press, 1994)
Alan Walker. Blackstone’s Guide to Australian legal books, 1986–1990, general editor, Paul K. Cooper (Blackstone Press, 1993)
Alan Walker. ASC digest, by Alan Walker, Christine Skourletos, et al (Australian Securities Commission, 1994)
1993
Michael Cathcart. Manning Clark’s History of Australia, abridged by Michael Cathcart (Melbourne University Press, 1993)
Elmar Zalums. The Cambridge history of Southeast Asia, edited by Nicholas Tarling (Cambridge University Press, 1992)
1992
Josephine Cardale. Insects of Australia: a textbook for students and research workers, CSIRO, Division of Entomology 2nd edition (Melbourne University Press, 1991)
1991
Dorothy Prescott. Geology of the mineral deposits of Australia and Papua New Guinea, edited by F. E. Hughes (Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 1990) 2v
Elmar Zalums. Gipps – La Trobe correspondence, 1839–1846, edited by A. G. L. Shaw (Miegunyah Press, 1989)
1990
Max McMaster. Kimberlites and related rocks: 4th International Kimberlite Conference, Perth, 1986 (Blackwell Scientific, 1989) 2v.
Elmar Zalums. Australia’s Commonwealth Parliament, 1901–1988: ten perspectives, by G. S. Reid (Melbourne University Press, 1989)
1989
Michael Harrington. Style manual for authors, editors and printers 4th edition (Australian Government Publishing Service, 1988)
Commended indexes
2015
Jill Gallop. Reform: a memoir, by Geoffrey Palmer (Victoria University Press, 2013)
Karen Gillen. A Mabo memoir: islan kustom to native title, by Bryan Keon-Cohen (Zemvic Press, 2013)
2007
Kerry Biram. Paper empires: a history of the book in Australia, 1946-2005, edited by Craig Munro and Robyn Sheahan-Bright (University of Queensland Press, 2006)
Tordis Flath. A life of J. C. Beaglehole, New Zealand scholar, by Tim Beaglehole. (Victoria University Press, 2006)
2004
Simon Cauchi. A Sort of conscience: the Wakefields, by Philip Temple (Auckland University Press, 2002).
2001
Geraldine Suter. Making the Australian Defence Force by David Horner. The Australian Centenary History of Defence, volume IV (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Michael Ramsden. Adaptation in nature, performance in cultivation, edited by Brian J Atwell, Paul E Kriedemann and Colin G N Turnbull (Macmillan Education, 1999)