The Neilma Sidney Prize and the Sidney Taylor Book Award
A prestigious prize in literary and academic writing honors the best essay of the year. This is a prize that highlights long-form writing and often features writers in the upper echelons of publishing (New York Times columnists Hilton Als and Ed Yong, for example). The competition is named for philosopher Sidney Hook, who advocated for free inquiry and the integrity of scholarship.
The 2024 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks excellent short fiction themed loosely around the notion of ‘travel’; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged. This is a major prize, with the winner receiving $5000 and their story published in Overland, alongside two runners-up. The judges were Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh, and the prize is supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation.
This prize is offered annually in memory of a former Sidney student and Junior Research Fellow. It is intended to encourage HLS students to consider the many facets of their profession and its role in society and the challenges that it faces in an increasingly complex world. Papers may address any topic relevant to the legal profession, including but not limited to: legal careers and paths, the management of law firms or legal departments, diversity or gender-related issues, changes in the legal industry over time, comparisons between lawyers and other professional service providers, and the impact of globalization or other social trends upon the delivery of legal services.
The prize is awarded to an advanced graduate student or recent PhD whose unpublished work, stemming from dissertation research, contributes substantially to the field of history of religions. The 2023 Sidney Taylor Book Award was awarded to Dr Jennifer Snow (University of Toronto) for her book, Mission, Race and Empire: The Episcopal Church and the New World in Global Context. The award was sponsored by the Society for the History of Technology and is regarded as one of the most prestigious in the field of the history of technology. The award was presented at the SHOT 2023 annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. SHOT is pleased to share the news of this remarkable achievement with our community. The full text of the winning essay is available here. This article was originally published in Overland, Autumn 2024. For more information on how to submit a nomination, please click here. You can also order gold or silver Sydney Taylor Book Awards seals for use on your books. The price of seals is $50 for single orders or $75 for bulk orders, including shipping. For more information, please contact the Past Chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, Rebecca Levitan. (Rebecca can be reached at [email protected]). The prize was established by a generous gift from Emilii Ann Consett Stephenson. The committee would like to thank her for this very special contribution. A list of previous winners is available here. The next call for papers will open in spring 2025. Please check back then for more details.