The idea for The Van Diemen History Prize came out of a conversation with Associate Professor Kristyn Harman, of the University of Tasmania. Her idea was then honed to fit the underlying philosophy of Tasmania 40°South - high-quality writing on a Tasmanian theme, aimed at a general audience. The competition is for articles up to 3,000 words on any aspect of Tasmanian history prior to the 21st century and entries for this new biennial prize opened in July 2018.The Van Diemen Anthology 2019 contains a selection of the best articles from the 2018-2019 competition written by Claire Doran, Tony Fenton, Paige Gleeson, Billy Griffiths, Nic Haygarth, Terry Mulhern, Terry Newman, Amelia O'Donnell, Gina Slevec and Kees Wierenga.