The Sidney Prize For Magazine Writing

Long-form essays have become an endangered species, yet one stalwart remains: the Sidney Prize. Since 1993, this annual competition has honored some of the best magazine writing from each year and recently, winners include Hilton Als from The New York Times and Ed Yong from The Atlantic; intellectual heavyweights like Steven Pinker debate over science’s proper place in modern thought in The New Republic while Helen Andrews unfurls a searing expose about online bullying for First Things journal.

This award, instituted in honor of Dartmouth College professor of English literature Joseph Pike, seeks to preserve in some small way his impactful teachings both inside and outside of classes. Each year it will recognize undergraduate writing that best meets its high standard of originality and integrity set forth by Joseph.

Harvard law students will receive a stipend of $1,000 for writing the most outstanding paper each academic year, which relates to legal profession or some aspect of professional services, including law-society relationships or client/lawyer interactions; managing firms or departments providing legal services; diversity or gender issues, changes over time in legal profession, or comparisons between different professions.

Nominations should be submitted by the last day of every month to the editor, including full bibliographic citation and explanation for why it deserves the prize. Articles published within books do not qualify.

On 1 July, winners of the 2023 Neilma Sydney Prize will be revealed. Judges Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop, and Sara Saleh have selected eight entries this year; Annie Zhang’s story “Who Rattles the Night?” from Madeleine Rebbechi and Sheila Ngoc Pham as being inspired by travel themes was ultimately selected as winner by this panel of experts. This prize is proudly supported by Malcolm Robertson Foundation.

The Sidney J. Levy Award honors one of the leading figures in Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). This annual prize aims to support and encourage young scholars who are making advances in this area. This competition is open to authors of any language whose published article fulfills the criteria for this prize. The winning article will receive $1500, while honorable mentions will receive $500 honoraria; both awards will be presented during the annual CCT conference luncheon. Overland will publish the winning entry of our global writing competition every month, open to writers located anywhere around the globe and with submission deadlines on every last Wednesday of each month. Read about more details of this prize here and nominate.