Judith Binney Fellowships And Writing Awards 2026 Recipients Announced

The Judith Binney Trust is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 Judith Binney Fellowships and Writing Awards. This is the eighth year that the Trust has given awards to support courageous, rigorous and imaginative scholarship of the kind that characterised Judith Binney’s historical writing.

Chair of the Judith Binney Trust, Cristina Billett, says selection panel members and trustees were impressed by the range and diversity of applications received this year and she emphasised the importance of continued support for the writing of history in Aotearoa New Zealand.

‘It is essential that innovative research and writing of New Zealand history continues to be appropriately funded in this country. This year the Trust has chosen to award two Fellowships and two Writing Awards. In an increasingly constrained funding environment, we are proud to support essential work that explores the past in ways that reflect the kaupapa and objectives of the Judith Binney Trust,’ she said.

The Judith Binney Fellows for 2026 are Dr. Vincent O’Malley and Professor Rangi Mātāmua. Each receives a grant of $60,000. Two 2026 Judith Binney Writing Awards of $20,000 have also been made. The recipients are Mikayla Journée and Natalie Looyer.

Judith Binney Fellowships

Dr Vincent O’Malley

Supported Project: Māori and the Irish: A Unique Affinity?

Dr Vincent O’Malley is an award-winning Wellington writer and historian who has authored many bestselling and acclaimed works on the history of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Dr O’Malley will use his Judith Binney Fellowship to support a new project exploring historical interactions between the Irish and Māori in Aotearoa / New Zealand. The work will draw on archival research in New Zealand, Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and will focus very specifically on the history of the Irish in New Zealand and their relationships with Māori.

Vincent O’Malley has Irish ancestors who migrated from Galway to Christchurch in the 1860s and says people of Irish ancestry and origins have unique historical and cultural backgrounds that set them apart from those from other places and these are factors which likely informed unique relationships with Māori.

Dr O’Malley says he is thrilled and greatly honoured to be named as a Judith Binney Fellow for 2026 and especially for the opportunity to work on a project that means a great deal to him personally.

Professor Rangi Mātāmua

Supported Project: Te Whānau Mārama – Māori Astronomy

Professor Rangi Mātāmua (Tūhoe) is Chief advisor Matariki to the Government and Professor of Mātauranga Māori at Massey University. He is acknowledged as a pioneering Māori scholar whose ground-breaking research has revolutionised understandings of Māori astronomy, and in particular Matariki.

Professor Mātāmua will use his Judith Binney Fellowship to complete a landmark book on Māori star lore and its cultural, historical, and scientific significance. Interweaving three decades of scholarly research with inherited tribal knowledge, the book will explore Māori cosmology, seasonal systems, ceremonial practices, and the enduring cultural importance of the stars.

At the heart of this project lies a rare 400-page 19th century manuscript written by his ancestor, Te Kōkau Himiora Te Pikikōtuku, a tohunga kōkōrangi of the Tūhoe people from Ruatāhuna in the Te Urewera region. The manuscript has passed down through generations and was entrusted to him by his grandfather. This taonga, provides a unique and authentic insight into ancestral knowledge systems, and will form the core of the new work.

Judith Binney Writing Awards

Mikayla Journée

Supported Project: Reframing Harold Marsh: Photographing and researching Māori histories and geographies of Kaipara in the 1920s 

Mikayla Journée is a research fellow at the University of Auckland whose work explores art histories of Aotearoa in relation to localised place histories, legacies of colonialism, and how artists collaborate with communities. Mikayla will use her Judith Binney Writing Award to support the writing of a new book on the photographic and archival collections of Harold Marsh (1876-1948) a photographer-farmer based on the Oruawharo River, Kaipara.

Natalie Looyer

Supported Project: Rock Climbing in Aotearoa New Zealand c 1965-2024

Natalie Looyer is an experienced oral historian and researcher based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. She will use her Judith Binney Writing Award to convert her PhD thesis on the history of rock climbing in Aotearoa / New Zealand into a manuscript for publication. Based on oral history interviews, her book will be the first in-depth examination of rock climbing as a multi-faceted activity and a sport which has become a significant component of out-door culture and helped shape the lives of many New Zealanders.

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