The Bert Roth Award for Labour History is presented annually by the Labour History Project. It is awarded to the work that best depicts the history of work and resistance in New Zealand published in the previous calendar year. It is named for the late historian Bert Roth.
We take a broad perspective on the definition of labour history, including non-paid work, and pose the following questions:
- How well does the work reveal exploitation and people’s efforts to challenge exploitation?
- Does it give voice to those whose histories remain out of view or marginal to mainstream history?
- Is it well written or presented and is the work accessible to the public?
The committee put together a short-list as well as a winner, and the Bert Roth award reports provide an excellent starting point to vibrant and exciting recent works of Labour History.
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Bert Roth Award 2025
The 2025 Bert Roth Award recognises two outstanding works of labour history, each bringing a distinctive approach to documenting workers’ struggles in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.
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Bert Roth Award 2024
This year’s entries in the Bert Roth Award all make fascinating contributions.
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Bert Roth Award 2023
The 2023 Bert Roth Award recognises two works that especially fit the award criteria.
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Bert Roth Award 2022
Housing crises, racist immigration policies and practices, employers arguing that laws that lessen exploitation limit their freedom, this year’s short-list is full of explicit and implicit resonances for the strange […]
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Bert Roth Award 2021
2020 was a very strange year, with intense reminders of how much history matters.
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Bert Roth Award 2020
The works examined this year demonstrate that labour history is alive and well in Aotearoa New Zealand in the many forms in takes. They all exemplify the argument made by […]
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Bert Roth Award 2019
The year 2018 was a strong year for labour history in New Zealand. As the shortlist below shows, the history of work and of struggles against exploitation by individuals and […]
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Bert Roth Award 2018
The 2018 Bert Roth Award winner and runner-up recognises two distinctive approaches to documenting working-class lives: a novel exploring the devastating 1986 Tasman Pulp and Paper strike, and a memoir […]
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Bert Roth Award 2017
This year’s Bert Roth Award short list shows the strengths of New Zealand labour history. Over the last twelve months people have written books, directed movies, acted in plays and […]
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Bert Roth Award 2016
The judges’ reports show the strength of Labour History in New Zealand today.
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Bert Roth Award 2015
One of the pleasures of the shortlist is that many of the creators may not have seen themselves as writing labour history. Work and struggle over work are present in […]
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Inaugural Bert Roth Award 2014
In 2014, the Labour History Project awarded the inaugural Bert Roth Award for best work in New Zealand Labour History.