The Sidney Prize and Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize

The Sydney Taylor Book Award recognizes outstanding works of Jewish literature for children and young adults. It honors the memory of the author Sydney Taylor, who authored All-of-a-Kind Family stories that reveal positive aspects of Jewish life and appeal to readers of all backgrounds. It also encourages unpublished authors to write Jewish books for children, and supports published work with Jewish content that has universal appeal. The award is presented annually by the Association of Jewish Libraries. The 2024 Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award is sponsored by a grant from Venour V Nathan and open to manuscripts written in English with universal appeal that have a significant amount of Jewish content for readers ages 8-13. This includes both self-published and commercially published work.

Winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award receive a medallion and are included in the list of winners for that year. The medallion is a distinguished mark of quality that helps readers identify those books as having special significance for the library and classroom. The medallion can be used to place on books, pamphlets, and other materials. In addition, the medallion may be placed on displays and exhibited at public venues, such as schools, synagogues, museums, and libraries. It is available in gold and silver and in various sizes. For bulk orders or other information, please contact the Past Chair of the Sydney Taylor Committee.

Since its inception, the Sidney Prize has sought to illuminate the great issues of our time. It has highlighted the need for a basis of lasting peace, the quest for better housing, medical care and employment security for all people, civil liberties, democracy, and the battle against discrimination on the grounds of race or religion. It has also honored courageous journalism that exposes social and economic injustice.

The 2025 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, is open to all writers of outstanding original short fiction. The competition is free to enter and the winning writer will receive $5000 in prize money, and their story will be published in Overland. Two runners-up will each receive $750. The judges will select a shortlist of eight pieces and choose a winning entry from among them, as well as two runners-up.

Submissions are due by the last day of each month. The winning piece will be announced on the second Wednesday of the following month. To nominate a story for consideration, please complete this form. Applicants can submit their own work or nominate someone else’s. Nominations are reviewed monthly by a panel of experts. The jury may choose to forgo the award that month if no outstanding nomination is received.