The Sidney Awards

The opening paragraph of a David Brooks column caught my eye. Writing about the Sidney Award, he said: "The Sidneys have become so prestigious and so life-altering that the winners know that everything they produce hereafter will be anti-climactic." The commentary went on to say that after winning a Sidney, some writers crack up (are any of us far from that to begin with?) and others commence a long, slow slide into obscurity.

It reminds me of the legend of how being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated can curse an athlete. These superstitions are unfounded, of course, but interesting to contemplate. Why would receiving recognition signal the beginning of the end for a talented writer? (This post won't pursue that question, so don't look for the answer here.)

My quick research on the Sidney Awards failed to uncover evidence of a jinx, but it did reveal that the Sidneys aren't limited to authors of magazine essays, which was the subject of Mr. Brooks' column. The fact is, annual awards are given in a number of categories: non-fiction books, newspaper reporting, photojournalism, broadcast journalism (both TV and radio) and, interestingly, blogs.

The Sidney Hillman Foundation bestows the prizes in order to recognize people whose work promotes social and economic justice. Hillman, founder of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (now UNITE!), is credited with inventing the version of trade unionism we know today. As a friend and influential advisor to FDR, Hillman helped shape labor legislation protecting workers' rights and living standards; and the awards bearing his name reflect the vision and commitment of the man who dedicated his life to bring dignity and respect to working people. The judges are members of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, and include assorted editors, photojournalists, authors, and activists.

The 2007 Book Award went to Thomas E. Ricks for his work, Fiasco, in which he presents a damning account of the beginnings of the Iraq war. Douglas Gray took the Magazine Award for his story, "The Invisibles," printed in West Magazine (a publication of the Los Angeles Times). He writes of undocumented immigrant college students who arrived in this country as small children and are now trapped between their illegal status and their thoroughly American lives. The Newspaper Award went to Rukmini Maria Callimaci for the Associated Press coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The Blog Award was presented to Sam Rosenfeld and Ann Friedman, Web editor and deputy editor, and Garance Franke-Ruta, Era Klein, and Matthew Yglesias, bloggers, for their blog, Tapped (http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped). That site bills itself as a "link-intensive collection of musings, ramblings, opinions and other assorted writing on the developments of the day" and is described by others as an unabashedly progressive site with a voice that's strong but not shrill.

I think it's cool that blogs can win awards. The first such site to win a Sidney was Joshua Micah Marshall, for his coverage of Social Security issues at Talkingpointsmemo.com, in 2006.

Whether or not we agree with the perspective of the Sidneys, I think we as bloggers need to realize that people do actually read this stuff, and can be moved and spurred to action by what we write. I feel honored to be a part of Novel Journey, and I want to take my small role seriously. (On that point, I hope you've forgotten my post of September 25.) We here at NJ may never win a worldly award, but it's our aim, without fanfare, to inform, encourage, and inspire writers and readers whose purpose is the most progressive ever – to see men, women and children all over this planet come to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.