The Sidney Prize is awarded monthly to an outstanding piece of journalism that appeared in the prior month. The winner receives a $500 honorarium and a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel. The Prize is financed by a grant from the Hillman Foundation, with the aim of promoting the work of journalists in pursuit of social justice and the health of democracy.
The Hillman Foundation has been awarding the Hillman Prizes since 1950, to recognize and promote investigative journalism that serves the common good. The foundation also administers the monthly Sidney Prize, which is open to journalism in both America and Canada.
Whether in the form of a book, essay or magazine article, an entry for the Sidney Prize must be original and show clear competence in research and analysis. It must also be well written and accessible to readers beyond the specialist community. Entries are judged by a committee of SHOT members. The prize is a cash award and a plaque, and the winning work is published in History of Science.
Awarded for a book on the history of science or technology that is both outstanding and of broad appeal to non-specialists. The winner is selected by a panel of SHOT members, with the winning book receiving both the prize money and the trophy.
SHOT also awards an annual book prize for books on the history of technology, in recognition of a superior work that demonstrates both sound scholarship and clear writing. This prize is open to both graduate students and established scholars in the field, with a preference given to those who are early career scholars.
The Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize is a competition for short stories that explore themes of travel, adventure and exploration in Australia or abroad. Writers must be at least 18 years of age to enter. Entries must be submitted by the end of the business day on the last Friday of each month. Writers may submit up to two entries per month. Each entry must be a maximum of 3500 words.
In addition to the Hillman and Sidney prizes, the Project on Private Law at Harvard Law School offers an annual Sidney Prize for the best student paper on a topic involving private law, either written in conjunction with a course or as an independent study project. The prize is worth $1,000.
In order to perpetuate in a small way the generative influence that the late Sidney Cox exerted upon hundreds of Dartmouth undergraduates both within and without his classes, a group of his friends has been soliciting funds with a view to establishing an annual prize for that piece of undergraduate writing which most nearly meets the high standard of originality and integrity which he himself set both for himself and for his students. Contributions are encouraged from any of the friends who have already been approached or from others. Contributions should be sent to the Committee, care of Professor Harry T. Schultz, 1 Occom Ridge, Hanover.