Named after Australian demographer Mick Borrie the prize is awarded to the best paper on a population related topic by a PhD student at an Australian university. The Australian Population Association Prize was instituted in 1984 for the ‘best undergraduate essay on a population-related topic’. The purpose of the Prize was to ‘encourage interest in population-related studies among undergraduates at Australian tertiary institutions and to inform them of the Association and its aims’. In 1987 the Prize was renamed for the patron of the Australian Population Association, Emeritus Professor Borrie. The postgraduate category was added in 1988, and entry was extended to New Zealand students in 2009. Since its inception, the Prize has been awarded to around 40 students, many of whom now have successful careers in population-related fields.

Meg Kingsley’s paper “Maternal work hours and Australian children’s mental health and behaviour: exploring the relationship over ages 4 to 15” received praise from the judges who were “impressed” by the paper and it’s “sophisticated and rigorous multilevel modelling”.