Sidney Prize is an award given to individuals who have made outstanding achievements in any area – business, education or sports can all qualify as examples of areas of accomplishment that qualify. Anyone meeting the criteria established by the committee can be nominated. Upon being selected as winner of this prestigious prize will receive cash and be featured in local or national publications to promote achievement and recognize individuals. The Sidney Prize provides an ideal way to celebrate achievement while honoring individuals.

The Sidney Thomas Prize is given each year to honor undergraduate student papers in art history that stand out. It was named in memory of Professor Sidney Thomas (1915-209), a member of our department from 1961-1985 who made significant strides in art history as an editor of two benchmark publications: The Nature of Art and Images of Man.

Nazanin Boniadi, an Iranian activist for women’s rights, was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize. Lord Mayor Clover Moore described her as a leader who turns outrage into action.

Ron Rash of Western Carolina University’s John Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies in the Department of English has been honored with Mercer University’s Spencer B. King Center for Southern Studies’ 2020 Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature, consisting of both cash and merchandise awards in recognition of 19th-century writer Sidney Lanier from Macon Georgia who held this prize himself.

The Sidney Hollander Award was created as a Broadway theater prize to recognize an up-and-coming young playwright. Sponsored by Playwrights’ Company, this prestigious honor went to individuals showing potential but who had yet to experience commercial success; initial recipients of this prize included Robert Ardrey and Tennessee Williams.

The Hillman Foundation, located in New York City, is a private foundation dedicated to improving human life through research, learning and the sharing of information. Since 1950, they have been committed to journalism as an art form and awarded the Hillman Prize to journalists who pursue investigative reporting and profound storytelling in pursuit of common good. The Foundation also hosts the Sidney Hillman Fellowships program, awarding up to six scholars pursuing projects of significance within mental health and social justice fields with $100,000 grants each. As well as its major prize programs, the Foundation makes numerous smaller grants through scholarships, lecture series on college campuses, and other projects not included in either prize program. Furthermore, its activities continue to expand within education and mental health – it now ranks among one of the largest private foundations in America with assets exceeding $5 billion as of May 2019.