The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with their analogs from other timelines.
The awards were created by Steven H Silver, Evelyn C. Leeper, and Robert B. Schmunk.
Over the years, the number of judges has fluctuated between three and eight and have included judges in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.
The Short-Form award is presented to a work under 60,000 words in length.
The judges have four times also recognized an individual with a Special Achievement Award in recognition for works published prior to the award's inception or for other contributions to the genre.