National

Australian War Memorial

Opinion

Chris Masters Investigative journalist September 14, 2025 — 9.50am

I was surprised. I was not surprised.

Surprised at the news my book Flawed Hero had been twice rejected by the Australian War Memorial as the winner of the Les Carlyon Literary Award despite being so nominated by independent judges – because I did not know it had been entered; the entry facilitated by Allen and Unwin rather than myself.

But once that news was processed, I was not surprised. While Flawed Hero has gained credit in some spheres (it was awarded the 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year prize), within other quarters of the Australian War Memorial it appears to be reviled.

Let me go back to 2017 when I sat down with the then director, Brendan Ne

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