The Established Scholar Publication Prize has been awarded to Miles Pattenden, for his close study titled ‘Papal Rome in Lockdown: Proximities, Temporalities and Emotions during the Im/mobility of the Conclave’, published in I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance, 24.2 (2021): 291–309.

Awarded for peer-reviewed research published between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2022, this prize celebrates a significant contribution to knowledge by an Australasian researcher in the field of Italian Studies, broadly defined.

The adjudicators write, in part:

... insightful, beautifully written, supported by rich documentation, [this article is] deliciously relevant to the themes of pandemic and emotional response. Pattenden’s ability to combine microdetail – the smell of the latrine, the sleeping arrangements – with the broad implications of confinement is quite exceptional. The essay develops the emotional aspects of the papal conclave, the broader elements of which are analysed in Pattenden’s 2017 monograph, Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy, 1450–1700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

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The Jo-Anne Duggan Prize has been awarded to early career researcher Linetto Basilone, in recognition of his panoramic study titled The Distance to China: Twentieth-Century Italian Travel Narratives of Patriotism, Commitment and Disillusion (1898–1985) (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2022).

The award citation concludes:

... deeply researched, [this account] effectively captures the rich variety of translingual and transcultural encounters that contributed to bridging – and indeed in many instances also increasing – the distance between Italy and China. In the author’s careful analysis … we can clearly identify the ripple effects of significant past connections and misconceptions as they re-emerge in today’s intermingling of fascination and suspicion. These are sentiments that will probably continue to shape Italy-China relations – and this book impressively traces the cultural history of their development since the late nineteenth century. 

Recollecting Jo-Anne Duggan (1962–2011) as both scholar and photomedia artist, the citation adds, ‘the inclusion of 24 fascinating historic photographs would no doubt have pleased Jo-Anne Duggan’. Further information about The Distance to China  is available via the Peter Lang Publishing website.

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The ACIS community and friends extend warmest congratulations to both prize winners!