The Sidney Prize
The sidney prize is an award given annually to writers of books about history, science, and technology. The prize honors the author of a work that demonstrates how their research is relevant to the public and their writing is clear and accessible. The winner receives a cash prize and a plaque. The book must be published within the previous three years and may be in any language. The prize is administered by the Society for the History of Technology.
The University of Sydney provides numerous prizes designed to recognize student academic excellence in various fields. While some require applications, all will be listed on your transcript if you are awarded the prize. The Sidney Prize, for example, is awarded to undergraduate students whose writing meets Sir Sidney Cox’s high standards for originality and integrity as outlined in his teaching methods and his book Indirections for Those Who Want to Write.
Another prize is the Hillman Prize, which was launched in 1950 to encourage investigative reporting and deep storytelling in service of the common good. The foundation has made tens of thousands of grants to individuals and organizations, including the National Association of Scholars. It is committed to the defense of academic freedom and the integrity of scholarship.
In addition to the prestigious sidney prize, the society for the history of technology also awards a number of smaller awards. The Edelstein prize, for instance, is awarded to a historian who has produced outstanding scholarly work that is readable by non-specialists. The winner is selected by a committee of SHOT members and receives an award of $3,500 and a commemorative plaque.
Other sidney prizes include the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, which is awarded to a writer whose short story displays the highest level of skill in the art of the genre. The winner and two runners-up receive $5000 in prize money and their stories are published online and in Overland’s autumn edition.
In a time when everything is becoming shorter and more succinct, the sidney prize stands athwart the rush of technology, yelling “stop.” It honors works that are longer than an op-ed but no more brevity than a Twitter tweet. The winners are authors whose books take the reader on an intellectual journey that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Essays become op-eds. Op-eds become blog posts. Blog posts turn into tweets. Eventually, all we have left are the novels and stories that are truly long-form. The Sidney prize has stood athwart this trend since its founding in 1968. This year’s prize winner is York University professor Edward Jones-Imhotep, who has written a stunning book called The Unreliable Nation: Disaster and History. The prize is a well-deserved recognition of his work and the work of many other scholars. It is a wonderful affirmation that long-form journalism and thinking still matters. The world needs it now more than ever before. The competition for the prize opens on November 12, 2024. The first place winner will receive $5000 in prize money and two runners-up will each be awarded $750.
