The Sidney Prize and the Neilma Sidney Prize

Long-form journalism and thought pieces continue to be effective ways of informing, prodding and challenging our minds in an age of short attention spans and clickbait headlines. They require more work but can pay dividends: an essay may change our perspective or inspire action on an issue; books can alter worldviews or inspire change – and various Sydney prizes recognize such works, be they books or articles.

The Sidney Prize honors outstanding journalism published during a previous month. Journalists, bloggers and columnists from newspapers, magazines and websites can compete for this prestigious prize, which offers a $500 honorarium along with a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel. Anyone may nominate an outstanding piece and all submissions must be received by midnight of each month’s last day.

Established to honor Professor Sidney Cox, an esteemed Dartmouth teacher renowned for both his literary talents and motivational influence on hundreds of students both inside and outside class, this prize annually awards undergraduate writers who most closely meet the high standards of originality and integrity that Professor Cox set both himself and for his students. A committee formed from his friends has solicited donations in order to secure its permanent existence.

The Sidney Edelstein Prize, established annually by the Society for the History of Technology since 1968 and named in honor of deceased Sidney Edelstein (an expert on dye history who founded his own specialty chemical manufacturing business) has been sponsored since its launch by Hillman Foundation, established to advance social and economic justice efforts of ACWA.

Every year, Overland–Australia’s premier travel magazine–hosts the Neilma Sidney Prize to recognize one of Australia and New Zealand authors with outstanding travel stories written within short form fiction. The winning entry will be printed and online publication will also occur for runners-up.

When nominating an entry for the Neilma Sidney Prize, please use the optional field “Why we should pick this” to explain whether or not you feel it represents marginalised communities and experiences. Though not required for entry, judges will take this into consideration when making their decisions about our competition winners. Thank you!