The Sidney Prize and the Hillman Foundation
The Sidney Prize is awarded monthly for an outstanding piece of journalism that appeared in a print publication during the previous month. Submissions may be self-nominated or nominated by others. The deadline for nominations is the last day of each month. The winner receives a $500 honorarium and a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel.
Founded in memory of Dr. Sidney Louis Wagman ’51, the prize is given to students exhibiting loyalty to high ideals and whose work is distinguished by a commitment to rigorous scholarship. In keeping with the values of the late Sidney Hillman, the award seeks to encourage the illumination of the great issues of our time—the search for a basis for lasting peace, the quest for better housing, medical care and employment security for all, the promotion of civil liberties, democracy and the battle against discrimination on the grounds of race, nationality, or religion.
In addition to the Sidney Prize, the University offers an array of scholarships and prizes that recognize excellence in academic life. These include the Brooke Hindle Postdoctoral Fellowship, which supports a student at the postdoctoral level as they prepare their dissertation for publication. The Sidney Edelstein Prize, which recognizes an exceptional book on the history of technology written for non-specialist as well as scholarly readers; the Sally Hacker Prize, which honors an outstanding scholarly article in the history of technology published in Technology and Culture; and the Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize, which is awarded to an early career scholar presenting at the SHOT annual meeting for the first time.
Everything becomes shorter as we advance technologically. Essays become op-eds. Op-eds become blog posts. And blog posts become Twitter tweets. The Sidney Awards stand athwart this trend, yelling Stop! In this era of diminishing attention spans and shrinking public discourse, these awards offer an antidote: long-form writing that stands out.
Established in 2000 to honor the legacy of the late Sidney Hillman, who devoted his life to illuminating the great issues of our times, the Hillman Foundation has sought to illuminate the most important topics and concerns facing the world today. Its grantmaking has ranged from tens of thousands of dollars for scholarships to fund lecture series on college campuses to large grants to support investigative reporting, and to the creation of a prize program that recognizes and fosters deep reporting and storytelling in service to the common good.
In the spirit of 19th-century southern writer Sidney Lanier, the prize was established in 2012 to recognize and celebrate the best in contemporary American writing about the American South. The prize is administered by Mercer University’s Spencer B. King Center for Southern Studies. The winner is selected each year by a panel of distinguished scholars. The prize includes a cash prize and a travel allowance to attend the Mercer University award ceremony in Macon, Georgia. The winning author also will present a reading from his or her work to the campus community.