The prize was established in 1939 by the Playwrights’ Company to honor new dramatic talent. It was the only significant theater award at that time to be awarded annually rather than quarterly. In its short history the prize had only a few winners, including Robert Ardrey and Tennessee Williams. The prize was discontinued in 1942. The prize is named in memory of Sidney Cox, who died at the age of forty-eight on November 9, 1939 at the Playwrights’ Company while preparing to perform his last play. The prize is given to the undergraduate student whose writing most nearly meets the high standards of originality and integrity which Sidney Cox set for himself and his students in his teaching and in his book, Indirections for Those Who Want to Write. Any kind of undergraduate writing in English may be submitted. The winner receives $500 and two runners-up each receive $250. The winning story will appear in Overland’s autumn 2024 issue and the runners-up stories will be published online. Overland and the Malcolm Robertson Foundation also encourage submissions that take up the voice or experience of a marginalised or vulnerable identity. Applicants are asked to indicate this when they submit their work, but it is not required and the judges will make their decision blind.
The Sydney Peace Prize is awarded each year to a person or organization that has promoted “peace with justice and human rights”. This includes individuals who have been a victim of violence or oppression, but also groups such as civil rights organisations and religious movements. The 2024 winner is the Black Lives Matter movement, which was founded in the US by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi after the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2013.
In addition to the main prize, there are also several runner-up prizes in each tournament category, based on ACF rating. Rating prizes are limited to 6 players in each category, and unrated players are ineligible for rating prizes.
In 2010, the magazine First Things awarded a Sidney Prize to a woman for her essay “Shame Storm” about an incident involving her and her ex-boyfriend on a panel about conservatism. The essay describes the viciousness of online criticism and the way her ex-boyfriend went on a long rant about how cruel she was to him. The essay was a powerful and disturbing example of online viciousness. The Sidney Hillman Foundation is a left-leaning foundation that awards monetary prizes for journalism in service to the public good. Its leadership includes a former president of Amalgamated Clothing Workers and former leaders of Unite Here and Workers United, SEIU. The Foundation has been involved in controversy involving union issues on two occasions.