The Grollo Ruzzene Foundation Prize for Writing about Italians in Australia: Judges 2007

Robert Pascoe (Convenor)

Professor Robert Pascoe is Dean Laureate at Victoria University. He teaches and researches in social history, particularly in the study of ethnicity and diasporas, in the history of universities and intellectual traditions, and in the culture of sport and community. His 20 books include the first history of Italians in Australia, Buongiorno Australia (1987), an ethnographic account of Treviso entitled The Seasons of Treviso (1995), the biography The Recollections of Luigi Grollo (1988) and an oral history of a building company, We Work with Grollo (1992). His scholarly articles have dealt with topics such as the Australia Day riots in Kalgoorlie, the Italian Press in Australia, and the ‘placemaking’ process characteristic of Italians and other immigrants.

Dr Piero Genovesi

Dr Piero Genovesi is the director of the Italian Australian Institute at La Trobe University. Officially opened on 5 November 2003, the Institute is a significant research enterprise dedicated to the collection and use of materials related to the history and culture of Italians in Australia. Through scholarships, publication subsidies and conferences, the Institute aims to encourage younger people to take a keener interest in the Italian heritage.

Dr Adriana Nelli

Dr Adriana Nelli is a freelance historian with expertise in the social history of Italians in Australia and contemporary debates on their role in society. She holds a degree in Multicultural Studies and a PhD in Social History in the field of Italian migration studies from Victoria University. She has worked in the fields of adult education and community development as well as the teaching of Italian. She has considerable experience as a researcher and has worked on a variety of projects relating to the Italian community in Australia.

Her research and writing on the Italian presence in Australia has focused on the history of settlement, the immigrant experience and identity formation, particularly in relation to Triestine-Italian immigrants. In 1996 and in 2004 she was invited by regional authorities in Trieste to participate in a series of conferences which explored the specific history and circumstances of emigration from this city.