Awarded to authors of outstanding essay or book in the history of technology, intended for general audiences as well as scholars. Nominations may be made by individuals or organizations. The Sidney Prize is one of many awards given by SHOT and its member societies. Other notable prizes include the Leonardo da Vinci Medal, Melvin Kranzberg Dissertation Fellowship, Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize, Samuel Eleazar and Rose Tartakow Levinson Prize, Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize, and Martha Trescott Prize. See the various prize pages for more information.
In 1989, molecular biologist Sidney Altman shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for discovering that RNA, which had previously been considered to carry genetic codes between parts of cells, also actively aids chemical reactions—an activity that had been thought to be exclusively the work of proteins. The discovery rewrote the rules of biology, opening new fields of research and establishing an entirely new way of thinking about living systems.
This prize, established in honor of the late Yong Kim A.B. ’92, J.D. ’95, supports the East Asian Legal Studies program and is open to HLS students writing an essay on East Asian law, comparative legal study or the study of other aspects of the legal profession. In addition to being awarded a cash prize, the winner will be required to give a presentation on his or her paper at the fall semester’s Asian Legal Studies Symposium.
Judges will select the winning essay from among all submissions, and the winner will be announced in April 2023. The judges this year were Patrick Lenton, Alice Bishop and Sara Saleh, who reviewed over 500 entries and shortlisted eight stories for publication in Overland. Annie Zhang’s story ‘Who Rattles the Night?’ won the prize and will be published in Overland, as will two runner-up stories.
In the spirit of its founder, the Hillman Foundation seeks to illuminate the great issues of our time—the search for a basis for lasting peace, the struggle for economic and social justice, the defense of civil liberties and democracy and the fight against discrimination on the basis of race, religion and nationality. Through its Hillman Prize program, the Foundation honors contributors to the daily press who write and speak out for these causes in the belief that their deep reporting is essential to a free and informed society.