The sidney prize is awarded annually by the Hillman Foundation to honor excellence in journalism “in service of the common good.” The foundation focuses on writing about social justice, public policy, and reform in traditional media as well as in new forms of news. The winner of the prize is chosen by a committee of journalists, scholars and community leaders.
The award was first given in 2012. It is named after 19th century Southern writer and poet Sidney Lanier. It is a nod to Middle Georgia’s literary heritage and the long, often complicated tradition of writing about the region. The prize aims to celebrate and extend this legacy, as well as highlight the region’s rich literary history and contemporary writers.
Founded by the late Addison Brown, LL.B (1855-1891) and his family, the Sidney Prize may be awarded for an essay written on a subject related to private international law or maritime law by any student at the University of Sydney. Papers should be between 10 and 30 pages double spaced and accompanied by a letter from the student’s professor or advisor confirming that the paper was written while they were an undergraduate. Prizes will be awarded to the top two papers.
Winners of the prize are announced at the annual conference held in June or July. A selection committee will choose a winner based on the quality of the paper and its contribution to scholarship in the field of private international law or maritime law.
There are many different types of literary prizes, from books to short stories and poems. Most require a submission of a piece of writing on the selected topic and are normally open to anyone to enter. Some also have a specific theme, for example poetry, or can be limited to students in particular areas such as chess.
The literary awards are largely the result of bequests and have been in existence for a long time, with some dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the prizes have been designed to encourage people to step back and take a look at the big picture. For instance, one of the most recent awards went to Walter Russell Mead for his article in The American Interest on the conflict between small state Manchester liberalism and big organization managerial state liberalism.
In 1989, molecular biologist Sidney Altman shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas Cech for their discovery that RNA (ribonucleic acid)—long believed to simply carry genetic codes between parts of the cell—actively aids chemical reactions within living cells. Their work has opened up new fields of research and medical applications.
The Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize is an Australian literary award sponsored by Overland magazine. It is open to writers from around the world, at any stage of their career. The judges this year were Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh. They chose Annie Zhang’s story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’ as the winning entry, and selected two runners-up. Zhang is a writer and editor living on unceded Wangal land, and her stories have appeared in Island, Kill Your Darlings and the WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writer Fellowship.