The Sidney prize is a monthly award for journalism that exposes social and economic injustices. It is named after the late Baltimore businessman who devoted much of his time to advocacy and activism in the fields of civil rights, social welfare and reform. The Hillman Foundation, a left-of-center organization, founded the prize in honor of its namesake. The foundation has made tens of thousands of grants for research, scholarships, and lecture series on college campuses. It also awards monetary prizes to writers and journalists. It is led by Bruce Raynor, a former president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America labor union, a predecessor to Unite Here and Workers United, SEIU. The Foundation has also been involved in controversy over its relationships with some left-leaning celebrities.
The prize is open to journalists and writers in all forms of media, including blogs, television and radio. The deadline for nominations is the last day of each month. Submissions should be sent to the Hillman Foundation via its online submission form. The Foundation will announce a winner on the second Wednesday of each month.
A number of other prestigious scholarships and awards are available to Trent students. These include the Donald Chase Prize, awarded annually to a honours student writing the best essay in Canadian History. This is named in honour of the founder of the Trent History Department and Chair of the Canadian Studies Program, a distinguished historian who served as Master of Lady Eaton College.
In addition, the Trent Arts Society awards annual fellowships to two undergraduate students in the visual arts. The scholarships are intended to encourage students in the creative disciplines to pursue their talents and interests to the fullest extent possible, and to enable them to develop the skills necessary for successful careers as professionals in their field.
Another prestigious scholarship is the Sidney Thomas Prize for the best paper in art history. It is named in honour of Professor Sidney Thomas (1915-2009), who joined the art department in 1961, and is a leading figure in the humanistic study of art. He is the editor of two benchmark works in art history, and was deeply committed to humanistic scholarship.
In 2023, Overland announced that Annie Zhang won the Neilma Sidney prize for her story “Who Rattles the Night?”. Zhang is a Sydney-based writer and editor living on unceded Wangal land, and was a WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writer Fellow in 2019. Her work has appeared in publications such as Island, Kill Your Darlings and The Big Issue, and she was a 2023 Overland Short Story Prize finalist for her story “Secret Love”. She is currently working on a memoir. The winning story will be published in the May issue of Overland. The winner will receive a $500 honourarium. This year’s contest received a record number of entries. There were 83 stories submitted from all over the world. The winner was selected by a panel of judges. The panel included a member of the Overland editorial staff, as well as three outside reviewers.