Gambling

The Sidney Prizes

In an era of zipless news and social media, the Sidney prize celebrates long-form journalism with narrative drive and social impact. New York Times columnist David Brooks has been giving out the awards—named after philosopher and political theorist Sidney Hook—since 2004. This year, he awarded the Sidney prize to Nazanin Boniadi for her illuminating and powerful series on her experiences being held hostage by the Taliban in Iran.

This award, deliberated upon by the English department faculty, goes to that student in the honors program whose honors thesis and overall work best exemplify an effective exploration of feelings through language. It is given for that piece which most nearly meets those high standards of originality and integrity which Sidney Cox set for himself and his students in his teaching and his book Indirections for Those Who Want to Write.

The winner of this prize receives a cash prize of $1000 – courtesy of Dymocks Books and Tutoring and the Herald – plus a Herald digital subscription and a tour of the newsroom. The runners-up each receive $500 and a Herald digital subscription.

This prize honours a NSW-based emerging creative working in short film with a cash prize of $7,000. It is open to filmmakers, directors and screenwriters who have no more than five short film credits. The 2023 Event Cinemas Rising Talent winner is Robyn Liu, lead actor of The Dancing Girl and the Balloon Man.

The Sydney Peace Prize honours leading global voices that promote peace, justice and non-violence. Previous winners have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Joseph Stiglitz and the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The Prize is generously supported by the City of Sydney. Your donation will help the Laureates continue their vital work for a fairer and more just world.

For over two decades the Sidney Prize has honoured writers who illuminate the great issues of our time—from the search for a basis for lasting peace to the need for better housing, health care and employment for all people. The winning authors and their works have gone on to shape the global conversation and inspire others to action.

The winning story from the 2023 Neilma Sidney short story competition is ‘Who Rattles the Night?’ by Annie Zhang, a writer and editor living on unceded Wangal land. It is published in Overland’s autumn issue. The runners-up are Madeleine Rebbechi for ‘A Map of Underneath’ and Sheila Ngoc Pham for ‘Whack-a-Mole’.

Founded by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA), the Hillman Prizes honor the memory of Sidney Hillman, a labor leader who believed in a free press and in building a better society through public education and action. The 73rd annual prizes are being announced today and include the New York Times’s extraordinary investigation of Haiti’s colonial debt, ProPublica/New Yorker’s expose on hospice privatization and More Perfect Union’s agenda-setting videos explicating corporate greed. The full list can be read here.