The Orwell Prize
What I have most wanted to do… is to make political writing into an art.
George Orwell
The Orwell Prize is the pre-eminent British prize for political writing. There are two annual awards: a Book Prize and a Journalism Prize. They are awarded to the book, and for the journalism, which is judged to have best achieved George Orwell’s aim to ‘make political writing into an art’. Homage to Catalonia, Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm and Orwell’s incomparable essays still resonate around the world as peerless examples of courageous independence of mind, steely analysis and beautiful writing.
The prizes are intended to encourage writing and thinking in this tradition. Clear, elegant expression, original ideas and hard argument about political issues that communicate to a wide audience are looked for. Style matters and content matters. The definition of politics is broad, and can include political and moral dilemmas, ideas and history, as well as issues in public policy, social and cultural concerns, in both fiction and non-fiction. The ambition of the prizes is to reward, celebrate and promote work that helps nurture the discussion of politics and that contributes to the quality of public life.
For the first time in 2007, broadcast and film journalism as well as internet publications were included in the scope of the prize.
The judges ask only that ‘writing must be of a kind that is aimed at or accessible to the public, and submissions will be judged equally for the excellence of their style and the originality of their content’.
The Book Prize
I’m delighted to have won the Orwell Prize for political writing: it is perhaps the most elegant acknowledgement of the novel’s intentions, accessibility and merit. Coming at the end of a hard road to publication, the award has been a great serendipitous gift. Winning the Orwell Prize meant the world to me: acclaimed writers and thinkers advocating for my debut novel, the positioning of Moses, Citizen and Me within a literary tradition, and increased sales!
Delia Jarrett-Macauley, Winner for Moses, Citizen and Me, 2006
Past book winners have included Robert Cooper, David Godwin, Patricia Hollis, Fergal Keane, Michael Ignatieff and Peter Hennessy. The winner of the Orwell Prize 2008 is Raja Shehadeh with Palestinian Walks.
The Journalism Prize
There is something about the name Orwell. I think it is his embodiment of a sceptical, literate and wide-ranging approach to political writing that any writer would be happy to come even a little close to emulating. There are few prizes that have that resonance, and winning it has been all the more special for me given Orwell's connection with my own paper.
Peter Beaumont, The Observer, Winner, 2007
Past winners of the journalism prize have ranged from Timothy Garton-Ash, Polly Toynbee, Paul Foot and Peter Beaumont to Brian Sewell, Matthew Parris and David Aaronovitch. The winner of the Orwell Prize 2008 is Johann Hari of The Independent.
The Special Prize
On a few occasions, the judges have opted to award a Special Prize for an outstanding contribution to political writing or political broadcasting.
Judges
In the sixteen years of the prize there have been many distinguished judges, including David Hare, Peter Hennessy, Blake Morrison, Andrew Motion, Andrew O’Hagan and Lynne Truss.
In 2007, Professor Jean Seaton took over as Director of the Orwell Prize from Sir Bernard Crick. In judging the 2008 Prize, she was joined by Annalena McAfee, writer and journalist; John Tusa, journalist and former managing director of the BBC World Service; and Albert Scardino, former executive editor of The Guardian and a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist. The Orwell Prize 2008 recognised work published during 2007, and was awarded in April 2008.
Sponsors
The prize is sponsored and supported by the Orwell Trust (George Orwell Memorial Fund), Political Quarterly, the Media Standards Trust, Reuters, A. M. Heath and Wiley-Blackwell.