The WestWord Literary Prizes
The university hosts a number of literary prizes. All require an application and the submission of written work on a selected topic, usually an essay or poem. The winners are announced each year at an awards ceremony. Most of the prizes have a long history, some dating back to bequests received at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the prizes are awarded to students, although some are open to the general public. Winners receive a prize money, and in some cases the work will be published. Writers submitting to the prizes must sign a copyright release form.
The Sidney Hillman Prize recognizes journalism in service of the common good. The prize is named in memory of Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACCW) union—a predecessor to Unite Here, Workers United, and SEIU—and an advocate for economic justice and civil rights. The prize is supported by the left-of-center Hillman Foundation, which includes a board of directors led by Workers United President emeritus Bruce Raynor.
This annual prize is presented to the best paper in any field of law that is not primarily concerned with animal law, but which deals with legal topics that directly relate to animals or the welfare of animals. The prize is funded by a bequest of Emilie Ann Consett Stephen and may be shared if two or more entries are judged to be of equal merit. The award will be announced in mid-May, with the winning paper appearing in the following autumn issue of the journal.
The Overland Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, recognises excellent short fiction, loosely themed around the notion of ‘travel’. The judges choose a first place, as well as two runners-up and a highly commended. The winner will receive $5000 and their story will be published in Overland in the autumn of 2024. The runners-up stories will be published online.
Annie Zhang has won the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize for her story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’, which follows a couple learning to live with ghosts in their new home. Zhang is an editor and writer living on unceded Wangal land, and was a WestWords Western Sydney Emerging Writer Fellow in 2019. Her work has appeared in Island, Kill Your Darlings and the Big Issue.
This annual prize is given to a female student graduating from any of our engineering courses who has shown dedication to high ideals in her academic work, personal attributes and contribution to society/student life. The prize is named in memory of Sidney Black, a former student who was a passionate engineer, and seeks to inspire other women to follow their dreams wherever they take them.