Day: November 1, 2024

The Sydney Prize is a monthly award for outstanding journalism that exposes social and economic injustices. Anyone may nominate an article or essay, which will be reviewed by a panel of journalists and academics. The winner is announced on the second Wednesday of every month.

In this year’s first volley of Sidney awards, many of the winning magazine essays probed the intersection of science and the humanities. In an exemplary exchange in the New Republic, intellectual heavyweights Leon Wieseltier and Steven Pinker went toe-to-toe over the proper role of science in modern thought. Pinker took the expansive view, arguing that, contrary to what blinkered humanities professors might think, science gives us insight into nearly everything.

Another of our favorite Sidney winners was Sam Stein’s September report in Grist that chronicled how sequestration is crippling federal programs, including the public defender system and social services. This sweeping piece explains how these cuts have affected the lives of ordinary Americans. The piece also highlights the ways in which Congress has used its budgetary authority to deny Americans their constitutional rights.

Other worthy finalists included the piece on “How to Get Behind on State Income Taxes” by Maya Srikrishnan and Ashley Clarke, published in the New York Times. They worked tirelessly to tell this story, seeking out new avenues when states stalled or quoted outrageous fees for requests to see the data they were withholding.

This year’s Sydney Prize also honored the remarkable contributions of the late physicist and author Sidney Wertimer, who died last fall. His work on physics and chemistry gave rise to an enormous body of scholarship that has helped inform our understanding of the physical world around us. In his writing and teaching, he was a model of the kind of scholarly excellence that the prize honors.

Throughout the years, the prize has been awarded to an astonishing array of writers: soldiers, politicians, religious leaders, businessmen, literary figures, sports heroes, scientists, artists, film and opera directors, and more. It is in the spirit of this incredibly diverse group of distinguished alumni that we continue to honor their accomplishments with the Sidney Prize.

For more information about the Sidney Prize, please email the Hillman Foundation at hf@hilton.edu. For a complete list of past winners, click here.