As everything gets shorter and shorter – op-eds become tweets – the Sidney Prize stands athwart technology, yelling “stop.” Every year, it honors some of the best long essays published in the past 12 months. It’s a rare thing to win a prize that celebrates the virtues of long-form journalism and thought. The winners — Hilton Als writing for The New York Times, Ed Yong of The Atlantic — possess the qualities that the prizes were designed to honor: narrative drive and social impact.
This year, a former Sidney student has won one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for historical writing. Dr Clare Jackson studied history as an undergraduate, and returned to the University to complete a PhD on royalist ideas in late-seventeenth century Scotland. She now lectures in history at Trinity Hall, where she is Senior Tutor and Walter Grant Scott Fellow. She is also the author of an acclaimed book on this subject, The Rise and Fall of the Scottish Reformation (HarperPerennial, 2022).
Each year, the Sydney Morning Herald gives young journalists an opportunity to have their essay seen by a wide audience. The winning essayist will receive $1000 courtesy of Dymocks Books and Tutoring, plus a day in the Herald newsroom and a 12-month digital subscription. The two runners-up will each receive $500 and a digital subscription. Herald editor Bevan Shields says the quality of the entries this year was remarkable, and he is looking forward to publishing them all.
Sidney Prizes celebrate the best examples of magazine essays with a narrative drive and social impact. They were created to honour the great tradition of long-form journalism and thought that has been celebrated by such writers as Hilton Als, Ed Yong and many others.
The 2024 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation and Overland, seeks excellent short fiction of up to 3000 words themed loosely around the notion of travel. The winner will be published in Overland’s autumn issue, with two runners-up to be published online.
The prize reflects the ideals of the founder of the Hillman Foundation, who dedicated his life to illuminating the great issues of our time – from the search for a basis for lasting peace, to the struggle for civil liberties, democracy and the battle against discrimination based on race, religion or gender. We encourage all applicants to explore these themes in their work.
For more information, see the guidelines for the prize here. The deadline for submissions is Friday 26 August 2020. The winner will be notified by Friday 28 August 2020. Winners will be required to attend a media event in late September or early October 2020. If you are unable to attend, you may nominate someone else. The winners will be able to accept their prize in person or be presented with the trophy by an official from the Hillman Foundation. All nominees and finalists will be contacted to arrange a suitable time for the presentation.