Each year, New York Times columnist David Brooks gives out Sidney Awards to highlight the best long-form magazine essays of the year. The award honors pieces with narrative drive and social impact. Brooks reserves the prize for works that can stand alongside Hilton Als writing for The New York Times or Ed Yong at The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Washington Post, and other heavy-hitting writers at top-tier national publications.
One of the finalists of this year’s Judith Yates Essay Prize, Khloe Lizardo (2022) wrote her winning essay at a time when Australia was facing economic hardship, high interest rates and record levels of public debt. Despite this, she found the process of writing her essay empowering and inspiring, helping her develop a deeper understanding of socio-economic issues that face our world. We caught up with her to find out more about her experience and how the prize has impacted her future plans.
Dr Clare Jackson, a former Sidney student and Junior Research Fellow in History at Trinity Hall, has just won one of the most prestigious prizes for historical scholarship. The Edelstein Prize, awarded annually by the Society for History of Technology (SHOT), recognizes the author of an outstanding scholarly book in the history of technology published during the previous calendar year.
The prize is named for the late Sidney Edelstein, founder of the Dexter Chemical Corporation and an influential figure in the field of dyes and dye processes. The prize was established in 1968 by SHOT in his memory and honors the late scholar’s commitment to excellence in scholarship in the history of technology.
In the age of digital ubiquity and the proliferation of partisan news, how do we keep our journalism honest? The answer, according to a Sidney Prize winner, is to focus on “the human element” of a story. The 2020 winner, Jonathan Prentiss of Bloomberg News, drew on his own experiences to write an evocative and moving piece on why a reporter must make the case for a story that might not be immediately evident to the reader.
The Judith Yates Essay Prize is open to students studying Advanced Economics at the University of Sydney in their second or third year of pre-Honours study or in Honours. The winner receives $1000 courtesy of Dymocks Books and Tutoring, digital subscriptions to the Herald, a tour of the Herald office and a chance to pitch four additional pieces for publication. The runners-up in each age group receive $500 and a 12-month digital subscription. The winners of each prize will also be presented with a Sydney Prize medallion. For more information on how to enter, click here. The closing date for entries is 12 October 2024. The judging panel will consist of the Editor and two Senior Journalists of the Herald. The judges’ decision will be final. Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents. The prizes are not transferable or refundable. Winners must be able to attend the award ceremony in Sydney on 21 November 2024.
