Sidney prize is a scholarship that is awarded to students who are in the final year of their undergraduate degree. The award is for the best paper that demonstrates originality and excellence in undergraduate writing. It is not limited to students who major or minor in English; any kind of undergraduate writing may be submitted, including creative writing, research papers, and other forms of writing.
The Sidney Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the College of Arts and Sciences. The winning prize-winner will receive a cash prize of $5000, and their paper will be published in the autumn issue of Overland.
Applicants should have a high-quality written paper or article that deals with an issue or theme related to the University of Sydney. The prize is awarded to those who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in an area of the humanities or social sciences, or both.
This year’s winner will be announced at the annual Creative Writing Awards ceremony in May. In addition to the main prize, there are two other prizes that are open to all entrants: The Judith Wright Poetry Prize and the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize.
A selection of the best pieces from each competition is selected by judges Laura Elvery, Paige Clark and Michael Winkler. The prize winners will be awarded their prizes at the awards ceremony and their work will be published in Overland in the autumn 2023 issue.
In addition to a prize for the best piece of writing, the winner of the Sidney Prize also receives a gift of books by the judge’s choice. This is a very generous gift, and we are thrilled to be able to offer it as part of the prize.
The award is a wonderful way to recognise the contribution of our students and recognize their accomplishments. If you would like to nominate someone, please send their name and a brief description of why they should be considered for the award to the appropriate award committee member.
You must submit a 500-word essay on the topic of ‘An Objectivity and Determinism in a Theory of Reproduction’ to the Sidney Prize Committee by no later than 5pm, Sunday, 30th September 2019. In your essay, please discuss your own thoughts and ideas about the topic, as well as how you have interpreted or evaluated the research.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at the address below. We will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.
For more information on the prize and its history, please visit our website.
This award is made in memory of Sidney Altman, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1989 for his discovery of the molecular catalysis capability of ribonuclease-P. His discovery, which undercut the dogma that molecules could either carry information (like RNA) or catalyze chemical reactions (like proteins), opened up a whole new field of study.
The University of Sydney’s Business School, with Dr Angela Knox, has a SOAR Prize in the mid-career researcher category, for her work on job quality and precarious work. Her research has focused on how people make decisions about work and aims to understand the reasons behind their ambivalent attitudes towards employment and a range of other factors that impact work-related outcomes. She has also been a key figure in the development of the School’s professional development program, and is a leading academic advisor to the Business School’s graduate student community.
