The Australian War Memorial's director has blamed a "communication breakdown" for the Memorial failing to award an esteemed literary prize and denied suggestions the Memorial did not want to celebrate a book critical of a war criminal.
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After calling for entries last July and closing them a month later, the War Memorial was expected to award the Les Carlyon Literary Prize 2024 by December, but no winner was announced.
Journalist Chris Masters, who won a defamation case with fellow reporter Nick McKenzie that was filed by ex-soldier Ben Roberts-Smith against their reporting, was blocked from winning the prize.
Two independent judges decided Mr Masters should win for his book Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes, but the War Memorial's governing council rejected the recommendation.
Mr Anderson told Senate estimates hearings on Wednesday that the literary prize had been established specifically to award emerging authors, however some social media posts calling for entries for the 2024 prize had not made this clear.
"It wasn't handled well," he conceded.
But Mr Anderson rejected claims the Memorial did not want to celebrate a book about a disgraced war criminal.
This came in the same session as when Mr Anderson defended the display of a Roberts-Smith image that a dead body has been cropped from, arguing it was a historic image from the day for which the war criminal was awarded a Victoria Cross.
The war veteran in September lost his final bid to challenge that ruling in his failed defamation case, when the High Court of Australia refused his application for special leave to appeal.
A spokesperson for the Australian War Memorial previously said in a statement that advertisements for the 2024 call for Les Carlyon Literary Prize submissions had been "inconsistent" and that some had "excluded the requirement that entrants be emerging or unpublished authors".
"When this was brought to council's attention in June 2025, they unanimously restated their intention that the award remain for emerging writers and were not privy to the short-list or long-list," the spokesperson said.
It is understood Mr Masters was uninvited from delivering the 2026 CEW Bean military history lecture, as it is understood that organisers were concerned it may have jeopardised potential future commercial relationships with the War Memorial.
Minders of Tuggeranong Homestead, a volunteer group that organises the talk, were reported by the Sydney Morning Herald to have then re-invited Mr Masters in early November to give the lecture.
Lucinda Garbutt-Young
Lucinda Garbutt-Young is a public sector and federal politics reporter. She was previously The Canberra Times' property reporter and national video lead, after coming to the capital via the Newcastle Herald. Got a tip? Email her at l.garbutt-young@austcommunitymedia.com.au
