The Sidney Prize and Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize

Sidney Prize

The Sidney Hook Memorial Award is given by Phi Beta Kappa to individuals who have achieved national distinction in scholarship, undergraduate teaching, and leadership in the advancement of liberal arts education. This award honors the memory of Sidney Hook, a distinguished American philosopher who served as president of Phi Beta Kappa for two terms and was instrumental in strengthening the Association’s scholarship and service programs.

Winners of the sidney prize are recognized for their ability to present complex ideas clearly, creatively, and with compelling narrative flair. In addition to winning a cash prize, winners receive a certificate of achievement and their work is published in the journal, Overland. This competition is open to writers nationally and internationally.

Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks outstanding original short fiction of up to 3000 words themed loosely around the notion of ‘travel’. This year, judges Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh selected a shortlist of eight pieces from over 500 entries and chose a winner as well as two runners-up. We would like to thank all of our judges for their hard work and commitment to the integrity of our blind-judging process.

In a new feature called “Behind the State Income Tax,” Grist’s Maya Srikrishnan and Ashley Clarke explore how states collect and distribute millions of dollars in tax revenue from low-income taxpayers—and how those taxpayers can be put at serious financial risk by missing payments or paying late. To find out more, the team worked with low-income taxpayer clinic attorneys across the country, surveyed every state that levies an income tax, and collected data from the IRS and each of the 50 states to understand their collection policies and assistance for hardship cases.

The Sidney Hollander Award was a prize for work towards obtaining equal rights for African Americans. The prize was administered by the Sidney Hollander Foundation, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The prize was first awarded in 1938 and has since been renamed after the award’s founder, a Baltimore businessman who dedicated his time to philanthropy and social reform. In later years, the prize was expanded to include work in photojournalism and opinion and analysis, as well as the daily press.

The finalists for the 2023 Sidney Prize were announced this week. Congratulations to all the entrants, and stay tuned for the winners, to be announced in November. The next competition will begin in early 2024. To enter, see the submission guidelines and rules here. The winner of the 2023 Sidney Prize will be awarded at the Society’s Triennial Council Meeting in June 2024. You can watch the live stream of the event here. To learn more about the Sidney Prize, visit the contest’s website. You can also follow the Twitter conversation at #sidneyprize. Thank you to our sponsors for supporting this year’s contest! We’re grateful for their support of the history community. If you have any questions about the Sidney Prize, please contact us.