The Sidney Prize for Undergraduate Writing

The Sidney Prize for Undergraduate Writing

Sidney Prize for Undergraduate Writing

In memory of Sidney Cox, professor of English at Dartmouth from 1927 to 1952, a prize of $100 is offered annually for the best piece of undergraduate writing submitted in competition. It has been established by his former students and friends, and is administered by a committee. It is intended to be awarded in early spring, and appropriate publicity about the award will be printed in The Dartmouth.

The Cox Prize is to be awarded to the best student paper on a topic related to the life and works of Sidney Cox, Professor of English at Dartmouth from 1927-1952. The committee, which consists of Robert Frost ’96 and A. B. Guthrie as honorary chairman and Budd Schulberg ’36 as active chairman, will assemble in Hanover to review the papers, select the winner, and present the award.

There is no fee for entering the competition; the winning prize will be awarded on behalf of Dartmouth by its members. Nominations may be submitted electronically. All entries must be written in English and be original, not published elsewhere (including online). The committee will consider the submissions in the fall of the year that the award is made.

Previously named the Sidney Cox Prize, this prize is now administered by the Society for the Study of American Literature and Culture in honor of the late Professor of English at Dartmouth from 1927-1952. It is to be awarded annually to the best paper on a topic related to the life or works of Sidney Cox, Professor or English at Dartmouth from 1927-1952.

One of the most provocative discoveries made by Sidney Altman, Sterling professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas Cech for their work on ribonuclease-P, was that RNA could catalyze the enzymatic action of protein, rather than the other way around as was previously thought. This shook up the field of chemistry, which for many years was based on the theory that molecules either carried information, like RNA, or catalyzed chemical reactions, like proteins.

This discovery led to the conclusion that ribonuclease-P was actually two separate enzymes, one protein and the other RNA, whose activities were not mutually exclusive but rather dependent on each other in some way. As an additional proof of this, Altman showed that when he used an artificial RNA template to produce only the RNA component of ribonuclease-P, it still catalyzed its enzymatic activity.

Angela Knox, Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at the University of Sydney Business School has been awarded a 2023 SOAR Prize in the mid-career researcher category for her research on job quality, precarious work, skills and migration in Australia.

Awarded to a young researcher with a record of outstanding achievement who has made a significant contribution to the discipline through their early career and who is likely to have a major impact on research in the future, this award is a testament to the value of academic excellence and its importance for professional life.