Craig Franklin Award 2026
Wikimedia Australia is pleased to announce that Pru Mitchell is the winner of the 2026 Craig Franklin Award. This award recognises an individual or organisation that has made a positive impact on the Wikimedia movement in Australia.
Pru Mitchell 2026 Craig Franklin Award Winner
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Pru Mitchell is a highly deserving winner for the 2026 Craig Franklin Award, as she makes a meaningful difference within the Wikimedia Community both in Australia and overseas. Within the Wikimedia Australia community, and more broadly, she is recognised as an exceptional Teacher-Librarian, trusted Wikimedian and dedicated mentor.
Pru first joined Wikipedia in 2006 and joined WMAU at its incorporation in 2008, serving on the Board from 2013 to 2023, including as President (2017-20) and Treasurer (2020-23). Much of Pru’s focus is on outreach, and she has successfully established and maintained many organisational and individual relationships that continue to flourish today.
With a professional background in education, Pru has worked to bring Wikimedia projects into universities across Australia, remotely and in person.
She has excellent communication skills and is skilled in introducing newcomers to the intricacies of Wikipedia and Wikidata. For example, alongside Mary Coe, she facilitates the Wikidata WikiProject Library and Information Science – an active collaboration between the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI), Charles Sturt University and WMAU. While the original project began in 2024, the ongoing collaboration and warmth fostered by Pru have not only maintained the project, but also helped expand its scope and members, with some later joining WMAU and participating in WikiCon 2026 from Pru’s encouragement.
Her perseverance was demonstrated as she liaised with the National Gallery of Australia to reach agreement on the Australia-wide Know My Name edit-a-thons held on and around International Women’s Day in 2020. Additionally, she has facilitated Art+Feminism events for the Women’s Art Register since 2019.
She is a regular participant in the monthly GLAM Wiki conference calls, attending both those time-friendly to our region and others in the middle of the night. She was on the Program Committee for GLAM Wiki Portugal 2025, at which she also presented.
Pru has been active in supporting ESEAP, including on the Organising and Programs Teams for the 2022 Sydney and 2024 Kota Kinabalu conferences.
She is a regular attendee of Melbourne Meetups.
Pru’s generosity with her time and knowledge, her ongoing guidance and genuine care for other Wikimedians have had a lasting and positive impact worthy of national recognition.
View the Awards event
Past recipients
- 2025 — WikiClubWest
- 2024 — Linda Pascal
- 2023 — Franklin Women
For more about the award, see the Craig Franklin Award information page.