Whether you’re writing an essay, crafting a poem or painting a picture, your work is a reflection of who you are. The Sydney Prize recognises and rewards the best of your endeavours, and celebrates writers, artists and filmmakers who are making a difference in our world.
Winners receive a cash prize (except for rating prizes), and a certificate presented at the annual Creative Writing Awards ceremony in May. Prizes not redeemed within 3 months will be forfeited and reinvested in promoting chess in Sydney. Rating prizes are limited to 6 players in each division. Ratings are determined by Australian Chess Federation (ACF) ratings, and unrated players are ineligible for rating prizes.
George Packer’s superb profile of Angela Merkel won this year’s Sidney Award for magazine writing. It captures not only the transformation of a leader, but also the nuances of her style: not the romantic visionary or the heroic hero, but the meticulous, practical plodder. The Committee congratulates Packer on his skillful rendering of this very complex leader.
The Sydney Peace Prize is awarded annually in recognition of an individual or organization who has demonstrated leadership in the promotion of “peace with justice” and human rights. The prize is named in honour of Sidney Cox and his book Indirections for Those Who Want to Write. It is offered for that piece of undergraduate writing which most nearly meets the high standard of originality and integrity he set himself and for his students, as set out in his book. It is open to any kind of undergraduate writing in English and is not limited to those majoring or minoring in English.
Every month, the Sydney Prize Committee designates a noteworthy piece of journalism that appeared in print during the previous month. Nominations are accepted for articles published in newspapers, magazines, blogs and online. The winner receives a $500 honorarium and a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel.
Overland is proud to announce the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize winning author Annie Zhang, whose story “Who Rattles the Night?” was selected from an outstanding shortlist. Zhang is a writer and editor living on unceded Wangal land, who has published stories in Island and Kill Your Darlings. She is a WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writer Fellow in 2019 and was nominated for the Sydney Film Festival’s Event Cinema Rising Talent Award.
The Sydney Prize committee also designates a Notable Books list each year, which consists of works that are not awarded the prize but are deemed worthy of attention. A compilation of the Notable Books lists from 1985-1999 is available here.