Awards Ceremony -
24th April 2008
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Awards Ceremony 2008
- Raja Shehadeh’s Palestinian Walks wins Book Prize
- The Independent’s Johann Hari wins Journalism Prize
- Clive James wins Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting
The Orwell Prize, Britain's most prestigious award for political writing, has named its winners for 2008.
Raja Shehadeh won the Orwell Prize for Books with Palestinian Walks (Profile), Johann Hari of The Independent won the Orwell Prize for Journalism, while Clive James was presented with a Special Award for Writing and Broadcasting.
The winners were announced at the annual awards ceremony, held at the Foreign Press Association on 24th April. The Book and Journalism Prize winners were presented with a cheque for £3000 each by the judges. The guest speaker was co-editor of Political Quarterly, and Chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, Dr Tony Wright MP.
Book Prize: Raja Shehadeh
Raja Shehadeh’s book, Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape (Profile books), describes - through a series of six walks over 26 years - the destruction of the Palestinian landscape, and how it mirrors the destruction of Palestinian identity and culture. The judges praised Shehadeh - a leading human rights lawyer - for the lyrical beauty, rich detail and the understated power which helped the book stand out from a consistently impressive shortlist.
Chair of the Orwell Prize, Professor Jean Seaton, said: ‘One way of measuring the quality of your freedom is just to take a walk. Raja Shehadeh’s book records how brutalising the loss of a landscape is, both to the losers, and to the takers: there are no winners. Palestinian Walks is a stoic account of a particular place, but one which – like many of Orwell’s own works – has universal resonance. The judges felt it made landscape into the essence of politics, and political writing into an art.’
Journalism Prize: Johann Hari
Hari’s five articles covered a range of subjects: 'France's Secret War' in the Central African Republic, a cruise with American right-wingers, and Saudi Arabia, multiculturalism and women, and Gordon Brown’s intellectual hero, James Maxton.
Judge Albert Scardino, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, said: ‘Long-form journalism is alive and well in the British press. The judges were heartened to discover such a wealth of material reflecting the best traditions of British reporting, commentary and analysis. Among the record number of entries, the jury found dozens that displayed courage, insight and honesty. Many coupled clear thinking with passionate advocacy and artful writing, in the Orwell tradition.
‘Johann Hari’s work combines courageous reporting and forceful writing with honest analysis. He brought to the forefront unsettling truths that afflicted the comfortable and comforted the afflicted at home and abroad.’
Special Prize: Clive James
Clive James has been a staple of British screens, airwaves and publications since the early 1970s. A writer, poet, essayist, broadcaster and commentator, he has written for the Listener, the New Statesman, the Review, The Observer, The Guardian, the LRB, the Spectator and the Times Literary Supplement. He has presented (and created) television programmes including Fame in the 20th Century, Clive James’ Postcard from... and Clive James on Television. He was shortlisted for this year’s Orwell Prize for Journalism for three editions of A Point of View on BBC Radio 4.
Chair of the Orwell Prize, Professor Jean Seaton, said: ‘Clive James is a master, in the Orwell tradition, of the essay. Whether written or broadcast his words are sharp but humane.’
This year’s judges were Annalena McAfee, journalist and founder of Guardian Review; Albert Scardino, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; and Sir John Tusa, former head of the BBC World Service.