The Neilma Sidney Prize for Investigative Journalism in Service to the Common Good

The Sidney Prize is a monthly award for investigative journalism in service of the common good. It is named for Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America union — a predecessor to Unite Here and Workers United/SEIU. The Foundation is a left-leaning organization that awards monetary prizes to journalists and other writers in traditional and new media for pieces that advance social justice and public policy. Unlike other journalistic prizes, the Sidney Prize is not based on professional achievement (i.e., work for top-tier publications). It is based on an assessment of the impact of the piece on readers.

The 2025 call for entries closed on January 15th. Sidney Prize winners are announced on the second Wednesday of each month and receive a $500 honorarium from the Foundation. Submissions are vetted and evaluated by a panel of independent judges. The Foundation’s board is composed of prominent members of the labor movement, including leaders from Workers United, SEIU, and a left-leaning celebrity, Danny Glover.

For the 2024 competition, the prize was awarded to Annie Zhang for her story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’. The story won over the judges, Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop, and Sara Saleh, who had reviewed a total of 500 entries from writers all over Australia and the world. First place is awarded $5000, and the two runners-up are each given $750. The winning short story will be published in Overland’s autumn issue, and the runners-up stories will appear online.

Overland is proud to have partnered with the Malcolm Robertson Foundation to present the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize. The prize is open to all Australians and writers from other parts of the world who have an interest in writing about the human experience. Applicants are asked to provide a brief statement explaining the relationship of their entry to one or more of Overland’s themes:

If your piece is written in the voice of a marginalised or vulnerable community, we ask that you identify yourself as a member of that community. This is a requirement, as is adherence to our submission guidelines, which state that we “will not publish work that exploits or misrepresents people of any race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or other protected status.”

The Overland editorial team reserves the right to edit any accepted work to ensure consistency with our publishing standards and mission. This is done to improve clarity, remove offensive language and/or make minor adjustments for length, where necessary. In addition to this, Overland editors reserve the right to reject any submission for any reason. If we reject your work, you will be informed of the reasons for our decision.