The Sidney Prize at Dartmouth University
Sidney prize is an award given to undergraduate students who write a piece of writing of beguiling imagery. The writing can be either fiction or nonfiction. The winner is chosen by a committee composed of faculty members from the department. The winner will receive a cash prize of $200 and the winning essay will be published in the spring issue of the Dartmouth Review.
The prize was established in 1939 in memory of the late American actor and playwright Sidney Cox. It was designed to perpetuate “in some small degree the generative influence which the late Mr. Cox exercised upon so many of his students both in and out of his classrooms.” A committee has been soliciting funds with a view to establishing an annual prize for that piece of undergraduate writing which most nearly meets the high standards of originality and integrity which the late Mr. Cox set for his own work and that of his students.
In addition to the prestigious sydney prize, a number of Sidney-related awards are presented each year. The university has a number of scholarships and fellowships in its name, including the sydney scholarship, which is awarded to undergraduate students who demonstrate academic excellence and financial need. The university also awards a number of research grants, with some going to the most promising graduate students and others to support early career researchers in areas like physics and chemistry.
Scientists from the university have won several prestigious Eureka prizes over the years, Australia’s version of the Oscars for science. The 2024 awards saw a team led by Dr Mengyu Li from the School of Physics win the Eureka Prize for Early Career Researchers, while Professor Kate Jolliffe won the Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Researchers.
Other Sidney-related prizes include the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, which was won in 2023 by Annie Zhang for ‘Who Rattles the Night?’ The prize was established in honour of the founder of the Dexter Chemical Company and a member of SHOT’s Leonardo da Vinci Awards judging panel, the late Sidney Edelstein.
The prize is awarded annually to a student who writes an article on any subject, published in any medium, that is judged to be of the highest merit and most outstanding in style. It is awarded by the Physics Department and a committee consisting of faculty members and teaching assistants. The award includes a monetary prize of $500 and a medallion designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel.
A monthly award that honors investigative journalism that exposes social and economic injustices, the Sidney Prize is administered by the Hillman Foundation, a left-leaning organization that awards monetary prizes and engages in activism on behalf of its grantees. It is named for the founder of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (a predecessor to the now-Workers United union), who fought for a vibrant labor movement extending beyond the factory floor to all aspects of working people’s lives.