The Sydney Prize is presented annually by the Sydney Hillman Foundation and ProPublica to journalists and writers who pursue social justice and public policy for the public good through journalism or writing. It recognizes and rewards individuals âwho have made an outstanding contribution in traditional and new media to expose social ills and work toward correcting themâ. Established in 1979 to honor journalist Sidney Hillman â who worked most of his career for IRS before passing away in 1979.
The Yong Kim Prize, established through a generous bequest from Yong Kimâs estate and supported by family and friends both at the Law School and beyond, recognizes an outstanding essay submitted by students enrolled in East Asian Legal Studies program who specialize in private international or maritime law topics.
In 2024, the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee introduced a Middle Grade and Teen Readers category in response to an increasing number of books for 7th-12th grade readers being submitted for review â rendering Older Readers too broad of an umbrella category. Official recognition of such books aims to inspire authors, encourage publishers, and intrigue young readers by cultivating pride in Jewish culture while building bridges to other cultures.
The Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize honors exceptional short fiction inspired by travel. The winner receives $5,0000 and their story will be published in Overland magazine; two runners-up will each be awarded $250. This competition is open to Australian and international writers of any stage in their writing careers regardless of where they live or their academic credentials; writers may enter up to three stories annually.
Annie Zhang won the 2023 Neilma Sidney Prize with her story âWho Rifles the Night?,â which explores the relationship between a family and an unknown ghost in their new home. Zhang is a writer and editor living on unceded Wangal land in Western Sydney and was chosen as the WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writer Fellow for 2019. Her writing has previously appeared in Island, Kill Your Darlings, and Big Issue; and this month her shortlist was announced. Overland published details about the winners and runners-up. If you want to purchase gold or silver seals to place on copies of winning titles from AJLâs shop page or read reviews of them on The Sydney Taylor Shmooze mock awards blog, or find seals for other AJL books as well â Overland also made this announcement.