Judges
Judging the Orwell Prize was an invigorating experience. Reading the dozens of books and articles submitted, one realised just how potent Orwell's spirit and example still are in inspiring the best authors and journalists. The prize celebrates this enduring influence - and, I think, helps to perpetuate it.
Francis Wheen, Judge (2007) and Book Prize Winner (2003)
Since the first annual Orwell Prizes were awarded in 1994, many distinguished persons from literature and journalism have served on its judging panel, including Carmen Callil, James Cornford, Malcolm Dean, David Hare, Ian Hargeaves, Richard Hoggart, Lisa Jardine, Angela Lambert, Penelope Lively, Joyce Macmillan, Blake Morrison, Andrew Motion, Andrew O’Hagan, Tom Paulin, Esme Percy, Donald Trelford, Lynne Truss, Marina Warner and Gwyneth Williams.
Sir Bernard Crick was chair of the judges until the 2006 Prize. Professor Jean Seaton became Director of the Prize from the Orwell Prize 2007.
Each year, the Director is joined by a number of further judges, chosen by the Orwell Trust in consultation with the board of The Political Quarterly. You can learn more about this year’s judges below.
Jonathan Heawood – Judge, Book Prize Jury
Director,
English PEN
Jonathan became director of English PEN in 2005. English PEN was founded in 1921, and is a membership organisation providing a supportive community for readers and writers across the world, promoting literature and defending freedom of expression; International PEN has 144 branches in more than 100 countries. He was previously deputy literary editor of The Observer and editor of the Fabian Review, and contributes to publications including the Independent on Sunday, Prospect, New Statesman, the London Review of Books and Country Life. He is currently working on a book about the cultural history of the British landscape. He wrote the introduction to Orwell: The Observer Years (Atlantic, 2003); George Orwell was himself a member of PEN.
Andrew Holgate – Judge, Book Prize Jury
Literary editor,
Sunday Times
Andrew has been the literary editor of the Sunday Times since 2008, when he stepped up from deputy literary editor to replace Susannah Herbert, now editor of the paper's News Review section. He has previously been a judge for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the Betty Trask Award, and is a judge for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.
Francine Stock – Judge, Book Prize Jury
Writer,
broadcaster
Francine is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. She joined the BBC in 1983 (after working in specialist journalism on the oil industry), as a producer on The World at One, PM and The World This Weekend. As well as a range of jobs presenting and producing news programmes, documentaries and the discussion programme No Illusions for Radio 4, she presented Newsnight and The Money Programme on BBC2. One of the original presenters of BBC Radio 4's Front Row, she currently presents The Film Programme. Her first novel, A Foreign Country (1999) was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award. Her second, Man-Made Fibre, was published in 2002.
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Roger Graef – Judge, Journalism Prize Jury
Writer, broadcaster, filmmaker,
Films of Record
Roger is a writer, filmmaker, broadcaster and criminologist, who has directed plays, TV drama, and opera. His more than one hundred and twenty films as director or producer cover arts, current affairs, social issues, and comedies, including The Secret Policeman’s Ball (with John Cleese) and the first Comic Relief (with Richard Curtis). Roger was the first documentary filmmaker to be honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship. His company, Films of Record, celebrated its 25th year in 2004. Roger was awarded an OBE in 2006 for his services to broadcasting. He developed the ‘fly on the wall’ technique in Britain and his influential films include a series on Thames Valley Police, which helped change the way the police deal with rape victims, and In Search of Law and Order. Roger was a founding director of Channel 4. As an author, he has written Talking Blues: the police in their own words, Living Dangerously: young offenders in their own words, and Why Restorative Justice?
Peter Kellner – Judge, Journalism Prize Jury
President,
YouGov
Peter has been a journalist and political commentator for over 30 years, writing for the Sunday Times, New Statesman, The Independent and the Evening Standard and working as political analyst for BBC2's Newsnight. He has written a number of books, most recently Democracy: 1,000 Years in Pursuit of British Liberty (Mainstream, 2009). Peter is also President of the internet-based polling organisation, YouGov, having been involved with the firm since 2001 as Chairman and now President.
Richard Horton – Judge, Blog Prize Jury
Serving police officer,
Lancashire Constabulary
Richard, better known as the pseudonymous police blogger 'Jack Night', won the inaugural Orwell Prize for Blogs in April 2009 for NightJack - An English Detective. The judges praised '[t]he insight into the everyday life of the police that Jack Night’s wonderful blog offered... something which only a blog could deliver, and he delivered it brilliantly.' In May, The Times was prevented from revealing Jack Night's identity by a court injunction, which was lifted by the High Court in a landmark case in June 2009, The Author of a Blog v Times Newspapers.
Oona King – Judge, Blog Prize Jury
Head of Diversity,
Channel 4
Oona was the Labour Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow between 1997 and 2005. She had previously worked in the European Parliament, as a researcher for the Socialist Group, for Glyn Ford MEP and Glenys Kinnock MEP, and then the GMB union. Her election in 1997 made her only the second black female MP in British history; her loss in 2005 to George Galloway or RESPECT concluded one of the most controversial episodes of the entire election campaign. Her diaries, House Music, were published by Bloomsbury in 2007, and she was appointed head of diversity at Channel 4 in January 2009 while serving as senior policy adviser on equality and diversity to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.