Esther Sharp is the recipient of the 2018 Anne and Philip Yandle Best Article Award. Her winning article The Great War and the Home Front: Reportage from the Ladysmith Chronicle appeared in British Columbia History magazine volume 51 number 3, Fall 2018.
The article was selected from the 25 articles published in the magazine last year by a panel of 10 judges from around the province.
In her article, Sharp sifts through archival records and newspaper accounts to recreate life on the home front in Ladysmith during the Great War. She examines how the Great War profoundly altered life at home in the small, new-immigrant community, explaining how “citizens shaped many of their day-to-day decisions by considering how they would influence the war effort”.
Esther Sharp  is a researcher and volunteer at the Ladysmith and District Historical Society archives. The article was based upon research undertaken by volunteers at the Ladysmith and District Historical Society, including Brian Bornhold, Terry Carson, Isabelle Ouelette, Bonnie and Ray Peerens, Ann Rogers, and John Sharp. The judging panel found Sharp’s article to be well written, interesting, and thoroughly researched.
One judge remarked the article “paints a picture in one’s mind of what was taking place on the homefront in support of the war efforts”.
