The Australian Academy of the Humanities

Supporting the publication of scholarly books

One of the aims of the Australian Academy of the Humanities is to advance knowledge of the Humanities by encouraging and supporting scholarship, and the pursuit of excellence, in the broad-ranging fields of the Humanities.

In accordance with this aim, the AAH includes in its activities the Publication Subsidy Scheme to provide modest financial support of up to AU$3,000 for the publication of scholarly works of high quality in the Humanities.

The scheme is designed to assist Humanities scholars based in Australia. Both independent scholars and those working within an institution are eligible for the scheme. The AAH gives priority to works that require a subsidy for their viability as a publishing venture, or for the inclusion of essential items such as illustrations, photographs or maps. Support may, in some cases, be given for meritorious publications with some prospect of small-scale royalty and profit returns. Works with clear commercial prospects, however, will not be supported by the AAH. The AAH normally supports publications that have already been accepted by a reputable and refereed academic publisher. In the case of in-house publications (of conference papers etc.), external assessment of the work will be required. Although the scheme is generally intended for conventional, hardcopy publications, the AAH will consider applications for subsidy support of online works. Costs of research assistance, editorial work, translations and the preparation of indexes are not subsidised under the scheme.

The Australian Academy of the Humanities offers another round of subsidies in 2009.

The Publication Subsidy Scheme was again a popular programme in 2008, with more than 20 applications. Below is the list of books that were selected for a Publication Subsidy in 2008.

Recipient	Title
Dr David Nichols	Community: Making Modern Australia
Dr Grace Karskens	The Colony: A History of Early Sydney
Dr Hwei Fe'n Cheah	Phoenix Rising: Narratives in Nonya Beadwork from the Straits Settlements
Professor John Clark	Modernities compared: Chinese and Thai Art in the 19th in the 1980s and 1990s
Reverend Barbara Allen	Pigeon
Professor Paul Carter	Dark Writing
Associate Professor Ken Stewart	The Life of Marcus Clarke by Cyril Hopkins
Mary Cunnane	The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature

Please note that the general guidelines given below may be altered at any time. You can also subscribe to the Grants Mailing List by emailing the Grants Project Officer (grants (at) humanities.org.au).

Selection
Applications are assessed by the AAH Awards Committee and rated according to academic merit and demonstrated need for a subsidy. Applicants need to be able to prove that they have limited access to funds to complete publication of the work, or that without the subsidy the work would go either unpublished or be published in a diminished capacity. Please note that a Publication Subsidy cannot be awarded to books that are published before the Academy's Awards Committee makes its decision.

The White Fund
The White Fund was established by a joint gift from the eminent Australian scientist, the late Sir Frederick White and his son, Professor Peter White, Reader in Archaeology at Sydney University. The fund was established to support publications of an archaeological nature. Proceeds from the White Fund may be awarded to works in archaeology under the Publication Subsidy Scheme. If you wish to apply under the terms of the White Fund, please contact the Academy as detailed below.

Application Procedure
Applicants must provide their original application, along with supporting documentation in hard copy, as well as an electronic version of both the application and the supporting documentation (preferably as one file). The electronic version should be sent as an e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word (link below) format. The hard copy should be double sided and fixed with a paper clip. Please do not staple the documents.

Applications must include all of the following:

A cover sheet, signed and dated by the applicant (available here in .Doc format);
An accurate and complete application form;
A synopsis of the project (3-5 pages);
An assessment of the work by a recognised scholar in the field who is neither a relation nor close associate of the applicant;
Correspondence from the publisher demonstrating support for the work, in the form of a letter to the Awards Committee from the publisher (on the publisher’s letterhead), stating the publisher’s support for the work and giving the reasons for requiring a subsidy and stating the terms of the subsidy; and
A publisher’s reader’s report.

All of the above must also be made available to the Secretariat in electronic form (scans of documents are permissible, in PDF format only), excluding the cover sheet of which only a hard copy is required.

Please note that the Awards Committee shall not consider incomplete or late applications, and is under no obligation to contact applicants if their application is incomplete.

In some cases, the AAH Publications Committee may request a copy of the full manuscript of the work under consideration. To apply, download the application form in Microsoft Word (.DOC, 240KB) format. Please note that the MS Word version has been designed for word processing (Word or a compatible word processor) and should be sent as an attachment by email.

All applicants are advised to make themselves familiar with the Rules of the award, in PDF (264KB) before applying.

Further Information
For further information on the Publication Subsidy Scheme, please contact Jorge Salavert by email or on (02) 6125 8950.

Closing Date
The closing date for the 2009 applications is July 31. No applications will be accepted after this date.

The Australian Academy of the Humanities

The Publication Subsidy Scheme

Related Link Category

Supporting the publication of scholarly books