The Sidney Prize is an award given monthly for outstanding journalism that exposes social injustice. The winner receives a $500 honorarium and a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel. Nominations may be made for any published work from the previous month. Newspapers, magazines, and online news sites are eligible. Submissions are evaluated on the basis of their ability to illuminate the major issues of our time, including the search for a basis for lasting peace, the struggle for better housing, medical care, and job security for all, and the fight against discrimination on the basis of race or religion. The foundation was established in 1946 in honor of Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America labor union, a precursor of Unite Here and Workers United, SEIU. He was also a left-of-center activist and the founder of the Peoples Organization, a group that later became part of the National Welfare Rights Organization. The Hillman Foundation is currently led by his son, Bruce Raynor, a former president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and an emeritus member of the Board of Directors of the Amalgamated Bank.
The Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2024 was recently announced by Overland magazine. The prize, which is supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, seeks excellent short fiction up to 3000 words that are themed loosely around the notion of travel. Imaginative and creative interpretations are strongly encouraged. The winning story will be published in Overland, while two runners-up will be published as well.
Dr. Clare Jackson, a former Sidney student and Junior Research Fellow, has won one of the most prestigious prizes in the field of history for her book on royalist ideas in late-seventeenth century Scotland. She received the 2023 Sidney M. Edelstein Prize from the Society for the History of Technology, which annually honors an outstanding scholarly book in the history of technology published during the past three years.
Sidney Black Engineering Award
The annual prize is named after Sir Sidney Black, a graduate of the University of Hull and a leading African electrical engineer who worked for the Department of Overseas Development. The £500 award aims to encourage and support female engineering students and inspire them to follow their own career dreams wherever they take them.
Sidney Thomas Prize
The scholarship is named in honor of the late Sidney Thomas, a longtime faculty member at Syracuse University. Originally trained in Shakespeare, he eventually focused his academic work on art history and edited two benchmark publications in the field. The prize is awarded to an advanced graduate student or recent PhD for the best article stemming from dissertation research in the history of Christianity.
The 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize was awarded to Annie Zhang for her story “Who Rattles the Night?”, which will be published in Overland magazine. The judges were Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop, and Sara Saleh. The panel reviewed over 500 entries. The judges were impressed with the range of stories, but especially with Zhang’s use of the city’s landscape as a character in her story.