The awards launched last year and the the first winners were: The Jacques Barzun Award for history and cultural studies, Keith Windschuttle. The Brian Penton award for bohemian or hippie conservatives, Barry Humphries.  The William Harold Hutt award for industrial relations, Gerard Henderson. The Peter Bauer award for economics, Wolfgang Kasper. The Laughing for Liberty award, Barry Humphries.

Nominations are invited for the awards this year.

These awards recall the memory of the warrior/educator/administrator and ruler Alfred, generally acknowledged as “the Great” (849-899) who expelled Danes from Wessex and eventually from England. He used to be known to every primary school child, if only for the legend that he went to sleep in a humble cottage while he was on the run from the Danes, and allowed the bread on the fire to burn.

His life and work.

Alfred succeeded in government as well as at war. He was a wise administrator, organizing his finances and the service due from his thanes (noble followers). He scrutinized the administration of justice and took steps to ensure the protection of the weak from oppression by ignorant or corrupt judges. He promulgated an important code of laws…While avoiding unnecessary changes in custom, he limited the practice of the blood feud and imposed heavy penalties for breach of oath or pledge.

Alfred is most exceptional, however, not for his generalship or his administration but for his attitude toward learning.