The Sidney Prize

For over fifty years the Sidney Prize has illuminated some of the world’s great issues: the search for a basis for lasting peace, the need for better housing, medical care and job security for all people, the promotion of civil liberties and democracy and the battle against discrimination on the basis of race, nationality or religion. It has honored writers whose work has been distinguished by originality and integrity of expression, as well as by a concern to address the underlying causes of problems and their potential solutions.

The Sydney Prize has also been awarded to a wide range of other fields of endeavor: scientists and philosophers, anthropologists and archaeologists, historians and political scientists, literary critics and scholars, philosophers and theologians, economists and social workers, musicians and composers, film and television producers, artists and architects, sculptors and designers and educators.

Each year, the Sidney Prize honors a book published in the previous calendar year that provides outstanding scholarship in its field and is of general significance. The winner is selected by a jury of experts in the history of ideas. The 2022 Sidney Prize was given to George Packer’s remarkable profile of Angela Merkel titled “The Quiet German,” which appeared in the New Yorker.

This prize, named in memory of the Dartmouth professor, was established to commemorate his literary talent and ability to motivate students toward realizing their goals. It is open to any graduate student who shows promise in the first two years of study and has been used to support a wide variety of creative pursuits.

Awarded to the honors thesis and overall work that best explores feelings through language, this honor, deliberated upon by the English Honors faculty, carries on in the tradition of the weekly gatherings that Sidney Cox hosted for his students. It is the highest recognition the college gives to a student.

The prize honours a journalist who is working to promote the public interest through research, journalism and innovation. It has been awarded to a wide variety of journalists and their work, including coverage of environmental crises, the fight for human rights, the struggle against racism or the quest for truth. The winners of the prize are invited to Sydney for an event to celebrate their achievement and receive a monetary award.

In addition to the annual Sydney Prize, the foundation awards monthly Sidney prizes for journalism in both the U.S and Canada. The winner is chosen by a panel of judges who consider the merits of each piece in light of the principles of the Hillman Foundation.

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