The Hillman Foundation awards monthly Sidney prizes for journalism that serves the common good. The prize, named after former Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America president Sidney Hillman and his wife Jane Freiman Schanberg, honors investigative reporting that exposes social or economic injustice. Past winners have included stories about the eviction of low-income tenants; denial of abortion rights; and police abuses of minors. The foundation is a left-leaning organization led by the unions Unite Here and Workers United, SEIU.
The 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize went to “Who Rattles the Night?” by Claire Aman, an Overland editor who works on stories about Indigenous communities and their relationship with the land. The first prize is $5000 and the two runners-up receive $750 each. Aman’s story will be published in Overland, while the runners-up’s stories will be featured online. The prize is judged by a panel of experts, including Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh.
Winners of the Sidney Prize are praised for their ability to communicate complex ideas to non-specialists and to provide new insights into historical topics. Awarded by the Society for History of Technology (SHOT), the prize is a cash award and a plaque.
Molecular biologist Sidney Altman shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R Cech for their discovery that RNA, long thought to be solely a carrier of genetic codes between parts of living cells, actively aids chemical reactions within the cell. The discovery opened up a whole new field of scientific research and revolutionized biotechnology.
The Society for History of Science and Technology presents a book prize to the author of an outstanding book that illuminates the history of technology through exemplary scholarship and the writing style that appeals to general readers as well as specialists. Winners of this prestigious prize are presented with an award and plaque at the annual SHOT Creative Writing Awards ceremony each May.
The Sidney Hillman Foundation is a left-leaning organization that gives out monetary prizes to journalists and others for investigative journalism that illuminates the great issues of our time. The foundation was founded in 1946 in memory of the late president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, a predecessor to Unite Here and Workers United. The organization’s board of directors includes a number of union leaders and prominent left-leaning politicians and celebrities. The foundation also awards a Hillman Prize for journalism and public service that illuminates the need for peace, the search for a basis of lasting justice, the promotion of civil liberties and democracy, and the battle against discrimination based on race, nationality or religion. The prize is named after the founder of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of the America labor union, and is currently headed by a left-leaning board that includes union leader Bruce Raynor and actor Danny Glover. The foundation also hosts a summit each year that brings together journalists, policy makers and activists to discuss ways to promote peace with justice.