The Sidney Prize is an annual award of $5000 given for an exceptional work of short fiction written by any writer worldwide at any stage of their career. Judged by a committee that includes the former Chair of Sydney Taylor Book Awards Committee, its winner will be published in Overland magazine with two runners-up each receiving $750 to have their story published online by Overland magazine; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged for entry submissions themed around travel.
The award honors 19th-century Southern poet and writer William Henry Harrison from Macon, Georgia. Established by Mercer University’s Spencer B. King Jr Center for Southern Studies in 2012, it recognizes significant contributions to Southern writing within drama, fiction or poetry genres.
Awardees must take up the voices and experiences of marginalised or vulnerable communities and demonstrate its power of storytelling to transform lives. Judges will consider whether an entry has demonstrated its capacity for further contribution into the future.
MERCER, Ga. – The 2024 Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature has been unveiled by Mercer University’s Spencer B. King Jr Center for Southern Studies on April 18th. This honor recognizes notable contributions to Southern writing tradition through fiction or poetry writing by authors who have engaged and expanded its traditions.
Honoring the late journalist and social justice activist, this foundation awards annual monetary prizes to journalists and public figures who pursue high ideals through traditional and new media forms. These ideals include shining a light on today’s most pressing issues – finding lasting peace through better housing, medical care and employment security as well as upholding civil rights, democracy and fighting discrimination on grounds of race, nationality or religion.
Every month, a jury of writers and editors at Sidney Myer Performing Arts Centre selects one winner out of works published during the previous month in Australian journals and newspapers. Writers can nominate either their own work or that of someone else by the end of the month on the Sidney Prize website; submissions will be judged according to literary quality, use of language, capture of essence of place through story telling, empathy evoking effect. Subscribers benefit from discounted entry as well as four print issues of Overland plus access to daily website content plus access for four print issues plus four print issues of Overland journal delivered right into their mailbox every month! Plus subscriber can apply for Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize!