SFCU is proud to honor students with the Sidney prize. Each year, a senior who has demonstrated distinguished scholarship in humanities-based subjects will receive the prize. The prize is made possible by a gift to the university from Sidney E. Iwanter, an alumnus of the College of Letters & Science.
This award is given to a graduating senior who, through their senior thesis, demonstrates outstanding academic distinction of an unusually broad and humanistic character. This is an unrestricted award of $2,000 and will be presented to a student who has completed a thesis that combines scholarly excellence in the humanities with breadth and depth of subject matter.
The winner of the 2024 Sidney Prize is Annie Zhang for her story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’. A Sydney-based writer, editor and a WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writer Fellow in 2019, Zhang’s short story takes us into the world of a couple learning to live with ghosts in their new home. The judges praised the story’s ‘delicately observed characterisation, strong voice and precise language’.
Established in memory of the late Dr. Sidney Edelstein, noted expert on the history of dyes and dye processes, founder of a specialty chemical manufacturing company, and 1988 recipient of SHOT’s Leonardo da Vinci Award, this prize recognizes an outstanding scholarly book in the history of technology published during the previous three years. The winner of the prize, donated by Ruth Edelstein Barish and her family in memory of her husband, is awarded a cash award of $3,500 and a plaque.
The Hillman Foundation awards the Sidney prizes to journalists who illuminate “the great issues of our times–from the search for a basis for lasting peace to the need for better housing, medical care and employment for all, to the fight for civil liberties, democracy and the battle against discrimination of every kind.”
Winners are featured in The New York Times and other leading media outlets. They have received many other national and international awards, and their work has been widely praised for its innovation and social significance. The Foundation is grateful to the many people who support this important effort, and we hope you will join us in supporting our Laureates as they continue their tireless efforts for a more peaceful, more just world.