The Sidney Prize

Sidney prize aims to recognise the work of individuals or groups that have made an impact on Australia’s culture, society or economy. It is awarded on a national basis and is presented at a ceremony each year. It has been awarded to groups including the Black Lives Matter movement, an international organisation devoted to promoting human rights and non-violence; the Sydney Opera House; the Sidney Sussex College; the Australian Institute of Sport; and a number of other groups.

Background – Eligibility and Selection Criteria

This Prize is awarded annually to the student who achieves the highest average mark in a unit of study in their third or fourth year of a Bachelor of Arts degree, in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. The Prize is funded by a bequest from the Lucy Firth Foundation.

The Prize is offered by the Head of the Department of Linguistics and their nominated delegate to the best student in the department who has achieved the highest average mark in a unit of linguistics study during their third or fourth year of the Bachelor of Arts. The Prize is offered on the basis of a student’s academic merit and also on the basis of their contribution to linguistics research, scholarship and teaching.

– The MAK Halliday Postgraduate Research Prize is awarded in honour of the founding professor of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Sydney and is awarded to the most outstanding conference presentation or publication by a postgraduate research student within the department. The Prize is awarded on the basis of a student’s contribution to linguistics research, scholarship and Teaching in their area of study and is administered by the staff of the Department of Linguistics.

– The Sidney Thomas Prize is awarded to the best art history paper written by an undergraduate student, and is named after Professor Sidney Thomas (1915-2009). In addition to his teaching in art history at Syracuse University, he edited two benchmark publications in this field: The Nature of Art (with John Gassner, 1964) and Images of Man: Selected Readings in Arts and Ideas in Western Civilization (1972).

A winner of this award will receive $5000 and publication of their work in Overland magazine. The judges will select a shortlist from the hundreds of entries that have been submitted. The winner will be announced at the Annual Creative Writing Awards ceremony in May. This year’s judges are Laura Elvery, Paige Clark and Michael Winkler from Overland. Last year’s winners were Ender Baskan for his poem ‘Half-time at the Roost’ and Saraid Taylor for her short story ‘The Road to Paradise’. The runner-ups will receive $750 and online publication at Overland.