As our lives seem to become shorter and less thoughtful, the Sidney Prizes provide a counterbalance. Each year they recognize some of the finest examples of long-form journalism and thought – it aims to encourage us to step back from daily grind and reflect upon bigger picture; just look at Walter Russell Mead’s essay “The Once and Future Liberalism,” winner of 2024 Sidney Prize!
Mead was previously honored with this award in 2022 for his essay exploring the tension between small state Manchester liberalism (a doctrine currently held by Republicans) and big organization managerial state liberalism (held by Democrats). Mead’s winning article serves both as an excellent analysis of an essential political argument and as a timely reminder to take a broader perspective when making policy decisions.
This event, established in memory of Sidney Black, an engineering alumnus who worked at British Airways before founding a private airline, seeks to inspire female engineering students from UHI who have passed their BEng degree on any one of our engineering programmes to pursue careers they feel are right for them. This prize aims to promote such aspirations among female graduates who wish to continue in this profession. It is open only for graduating UHI female BEng degree holders.
Sophia Jactel (B.A. ’20) earned the Sidney Thomas Prize for Art History with her paper on “Domesticity and Diversions: Josef Israels’ The Smoker as a Symbol of Peasant Culture and Home Life in Nineteenth-Century Holland.” Alongside writing her research paper, Sophia collaborated with professor Sally Cornelison to curate a campus exhibition based on it last Fall.
BCLC announced that Lotto Max player Sidney Masters has won an incredible $114 Million, becoming the largest jackpot ever won from Canada’s national lottery game. Masters, who self-describes himself as a music enthusiast, said his plans include more synthesizer playing and travelling to Japan – where his ticket was bought at Shoppers Drug Mart on Beacon Avenue in Sidney, British Columbia.
Hillman Prize past recipients include New York Times columnist David Brooks and Ed Yong of The Atlantic. The foundation is managed by an advisory board comprised of former union presidents from Amalgamated Clothing Workers and Workers United/SEIU unions; their leadership dominated by left-leaning labor activists such as celebrity actor Danny Glover.
Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the 2024 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize seeks exceptional short fiction that incorporates travel. Entries from writers across any style or genre and stage in their career are welcome; submissions should include one piece that will be published in Overland magazine as the winning entry while two runners-up will each receive $750 for their efforts; this story will then appear online along with print version of Overland issue 2024.