Sydney Prize
The Sydney Film Festival presents a number of prestigious awards to celebrate the outstanding work of Australia’s filmmakers. The Sydney Film Prize is the top prize of the Official Competition line-up, awarded to the most audacious and cutting-edge film. Winners are presented with a mesmerising swirl award, designed and made in Sydney by Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy of Dinosaur Designs.
The prize was established in 1997 by a gift from the Committee of the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts. It is awarded annually, on the recommendation of the Professor of Australian Literature and the Head of the Department of English, to a student who achieves outstanding results in senior units of study in Australian Literature, provided that their work is of sufficient merit.
Established in memory of Sidney Hook, an American philosopher who was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and who championed the cause of liberal arts education, the Sidney Hook Prize is given to Phi Beta Kappa members who distinguish themselves nationally in scholarship or undergraduate teaching. The award consists of a plaque and a cash prize.
It has been hailed as “the most important investigative journalism piece of the year.” Maya Srikrishnan and Ashley Clarke doggedly pursued new avenues to tell this story, investigating how states collect revenue through income taxes, and how those taxes are used. They found that many states were stalling requests for information or quoting outrageous fees to low-income taxpayers, and they interviewed more than 200 attorneys in state tax collection departments across the country.
The Neilma Sydney Short Story Prize is an annual literary award for Australian and New Zealand writers of a short story, with the winning entry published in Overland magazine. The award is open to all Overland subscribers, including students, who must submit their stories by email. Submissions are considered over the summer by a panel of faculty readers and results announced in late summer or early fall.
Whether their entries take up the voice or experience of a marginalised identity, or are in some way socially responsible, our judges look for quality and originality in all the work we consider for the prize. To help make the process as fair as possible, the judges ask each author to self-identify their background in a short statement, which is kept anonymous to our internal editors.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award committee designates a Notable Books list each year in addition to the winners. This compilation of books is a comprehensive overview of the best of the year’s publications, and has been published since 1985. A new list is published each year at the same time as the winners are announced. In the spirit of Sydney Taylor, we hope it serves as a resource for teachers and librarians.