The Sydney Prize and Other Awards Honor Undergraduate Writing
The Sydney prize is a journalism award that recognizes journalists who use their skills in pursuit of social justice and public policy for the common good. The award is administered by the Sidney Hillman Foundation in the United States and Canada. The winners receive a cash prize, and the winning articles are published at Overland magazine. In addition, the winner of the US Sydney prize is automatically considered for the Hillman Prize in the category of Reporting on Racial and Economic Justice.
The award honors Yong Kim A.B ’92, J.D ’95, who was dedicated to strengthening U.S.-East Asian understanding and who exhibited great leadership in his professional life. In order to be eligible for the prize, applicants must author a paper that contributes to fostering U.S-East Asian understanding and must demonstrate Yong Kim’s interest in and enthusiasm for East Asia and plan to pursue a career that will further advance those interests.
In addition to the Sydney Prize, Overland offers several other awards that honor undergraduate writing. The Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, for example, is awarded to the best piece of short fiction written in English and themed around the notion of travel. The winner receives $5000 in prize money, and two runners-up will each be awarded $750. The prize is funded by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation and judged by a panel of judges that includes Overland editors and writers.
Other awards are based on academic performance, such as the James G. Taylor Essay Prize, which honors the work of an undergraduate student in a field other than law or business administration who has written an essay that demonstrates exceptional scholarship. This scholarship may be demonstrated by the originality and creativeness of the essay or by its effectiveness in addressing a legal issue. Essays must be between 10 and 30 pages double spaced and must be submitted with a letter from the student’s professor or advisor attesting to the fact that the work was composed while the student was an undergraduate.
The Sydney Cox Memorial Prize, meanwhile, is given annually to that piece of undergraduate writing that most nearly meets the high standards of literary merit and integrity set by the late Sidney Cox. This award may be given for any form of undergraduate writing in English, and the winning essay is published at Overland. The prize is also supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation and is accompanied by a monetary award of $1500. The competition is open to anyone, regardless of membership or affiliation with the society. One honorable mention is given each year. The prize is named for the founder of Consumer Culture Theory, a research and theoretical field within marketing and consumer studies. The competition is open to authors of dissertation-based articles on CCT or related areas.