Sidney Prize celebrates the art of writing in the age of technology. Each month we award a prize for an outstanding piece of journalism that exposes social or economic injustice. It may be an article or essay that was published online or in print in the previous month. The deadline for nominations is the last day of the month. You may nominate your own work or someone else’s. The winner will be announced on the second Wednesday of each month.
In addition to the monthly Sidney Prize, we have a number of other awards that honor exceptional scholarship in the history of technology. See the Hillman Foundation page for more information on these awards and their submission requirements.
This year we saw many fine magazine essays probe the intersection of science and the humanities, including two intellectual heavyweights going toe-to-toe in the New Republic: Leon Wieseltier and Steven Pinker. Both argued that we should take an expansive view of what science can tell us about the world—instead of a blinkered view that confines it to some narrow fields.
The 2024 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks exceptional short fiction of up to 3000 words themed around the notion of ‘travel’. This year the judges, Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh, selected a shortlist of eight pieces and a winner. They will each receive $5000 and their story will be published in Overland. Two runners-up will also be awarded $750 each. The prize is open to writers nationally and internationally, at any stage in their careers.
A bequest by Irving Oberman, a Harvard Law School alumnus, established this prize in 1973 in memory of his wife. The program annually awards $1,000 to a HLS student for the best paper on one of seven current legal subjects: bankruptcy; constitutional law and equal justice under law; environmental law; family law; intellectual property, law and technology; or legal history.
In the early 1990s, Sidney Altman made a remarkable discovery: he found that RNA molecules could carry information, like DNA, or catalyze chemical reactions, but not both. His research overturned the prevailing dogma that only protein-containing molecules could do both functions. This work earned him a share of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In 1950, the founders of the Sidney Hillman Foundation sought to recognize journalists and writers “who pursue social justice and public policy for the common good.” Today, we continue that commitment through our various prize programs, including the monthly Sidney Prize. For more information on all the prizes, including their submission requirements, see our Hillman Prize page.