The Sydney Prizes
Sydney Prizes are awarded each year by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) for outstanding scholarly work in the field of the history of technology. Each prize carries with it a cash award of $1,500 and a commemorative plaque. The Edelstein Prize is awarded for an outstanding scholarly book in the history of technology published during the three years preceding the year of the award. The Abbot Payson Usher Prize is awarded for an exceptional scholarly article in the history of technology written to be accessible to non-specialists as well as scholars. The Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize is awarded for a graduate student or early career scholar presenting at the SHOT annual meeting for the first time.
This prize recognises leading global voices who promote peace with justice and non-violence. Previous winners include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson and Joseph Stiglitz. The prize is sponsored by the City of Sydney, and a laureate receives an official welcome in Sydney Town Hall. The winner of this year’s Sydney Peace Prize is the human rights movement Black Lives Matter, founded in the US by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi after the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin.
The Sidney Hillman Prizes for journalism are named in honor of the memory of the immigrant who dedicated his life to building “a better America.” They reward writers who illuminate the great issues of our times, from the search for a basis for lasting peace to the need for housing, medical care and employment for all, and the battle against discrimination of all kinds.
The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award is presented to a NSW-based emerging creative working in short film with a cash prize of $7,000. The 2023 recipient is filmmaker Chris Godfrey, who was nominated for his film Balloon Man.
There is a truly fascinating and entirely unexpected history to be told about this small institution which punched way above its weight throughout its long and colourful past. The college is a hidden gem, with Elizabethan brickwork, a charming Cloister Court, a haunting Chapel, exquisite rococo Hall and medieval cellars all tucked away behind self-effacing walls of Roman cement.
Each of our Sidney awards is judged by a panel of senior Overland readers and editors, who choose a winning entry from a shortlist of eight pieces. In addition, we ask authors to answer a question about their entry’s potential to be sensitive to the experience of people with marginalised or vulnerable identities.
This year, the judges of the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize – Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh – chose Annie Zhang’s story ‘Who Rattles the Night’ as this year’s winner. The judges praised the ‘deeply evocative and emotionally engaging’ story, which ‘captures the sense of a world that is simultaneously familiar and strange.’ The judges also commended the story’s attention to detail and its ability to take the reader into a specific time and place. The Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize is open to subscribers, who can enter the competition at a special subscriber rate of four issues for the price of one.