University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
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, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are awarded each year: one each for a fiction (established 2019) and non-fiction book on politics, one for
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...
and one for "Exposing Britain's Social Evils" (established 2015); between 2009 and 2012, a fifth prize was awarded for blogging. In each case, the winner is the short-listed entry which comes closest to
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...
's own ambition to "make political writing into an art".
In 2014, the Youth Orwell Prize was launched, targeted at school years 9 to 13 in order to "support and inspire a new generation of politically engaged young writers". In 2015, The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils, sponsored and supported by the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is a charity that conducts and funds research aimed at solving poverty in the UK. JRF's stated aim is to "inspire action and change that will create a prosperous UK without poverty."
Originally called the ...
, was launched.
The British political theorist Sir Bernard Crick founded The Orwell Prize in 1993, using money from the royalties of the hardback edition of his biography of Orwell. Its current sponsors are Orwell's son Richard Blair, ''
The Political Quarterly
''The Political Quarterly'' is an academic journal of political science that first appeared from 1914 to 1916 and was revived by Leonard Woolf, Kingsley Martin, and William A. Robson in 1930. Its editors-in-chief are Ben Jackson (University of Ox ...
'', the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) is a charity that conducts and funds research aimed at solving poverty in the UK. JRF's stated aim is to "inspire action and change that will create a prosperous UK without poverty."
Originally called the ...
and the Orwell Estate's literary agents, A. M. Heath. The Prize was formerly sponsored by the Media Standards Trust and Reuters. Bernard Crick remained chair of the judges until 2006; since 2007, the media historian Professor Jean Seaton has been the Director of the Prize. Judging panels for all four prizes are appointed annually.
Winners and shortlists
The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (2019–present)
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing (2019–present)
Combined book category (1994–2018)
Beginning with 2019, the Book prize was split into fiction and non-fiction categories.
The Orwell Prize for Journalism (1994–present )
The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils (2015–present)
Blog category (2009–2012)
Special prizes
In addition to the four regular prizes, the judges may choose to award a special prize.
In 2007, BBC's ''
Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' programme was given a special prize, the judges noting, "When we were discussing the many very fine pieces of journalism that were submitted ''Newsnight'' just spontaneously emerged in our deliberations as the most precious and authoritative home for proper reporting of important stories, beautifully and intelligently crafted by journalists of rare distinction."
In 2008,
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Tony Judt was given a lifetime achievement award.
In 2012, a posthumous award was made to
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...
in 2012, his book '' Arguably'' having been longlisted that year.
In 2013,
Marie Colvin
Marie Catherine Colvin (January 12, 1956 – February 22, 2012) was an American journalist who worked as a foreign affairs correspondent for the British newspaper '' The Sunday Times'' from 1985 until her death. She died while covering the siege ...
received a special prize for ''On the Front Line.'' She had been killed earlier that year while on assignment in Homs, Syria.
In 2014, the Guardian columnist
Jonathan Freedland
Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist who writes a weekly column for ''The Guardian''. He presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series ''The Long View''. Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the ...
was given a special award, after having been shortlisted for the Journalism Prize that year.
Controversy
In 2008 the winner in the Journalism category was
Johann Hari
Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British-Swiss writer and journalist who has written for ''The Independent'' and ''The Huffington Post''. In 2011, Hari was suspended from ''The Independent'' and later resigned, after admitting to ...
. In July 2011 the Council of the Orwell Prize decided to revoke Hari's award and withdraw the prize. Public announcement was delayed as Hari was then under investigation by ''The Independent'' for professional misconduct. In September 2011 Hari announced that he was returning his prize "as an act of contrition for the errors I made elsewhere, in my interviews", although he "stands by the articles that won the prize". A few weeks later, the Council of the Orwell Prize confirmed that Hari had returned the plaque but not the £2,000 prize money, and issued a statement that one of the articles submitted for the prize "How multiculturalism is betraying women" published by ''The Independent'' in April 2007, "contained inaccuracies and conflated different parts of someone else's story (specifically, a report in
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
)".
Hari did not initially return the prize money of £2,000. He later offered to repay the money, but ''Political Quarterly'', responsible for paying the prize money in 2008, instead invited Hari to make a donation to
English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...
, of which George Orwell was a member. Hari arranged with English PEN to make a donation equal to the value of the prize, to be paid in installments once Hari returned to work at ''The Independent''. However, Hari did not return to work at ''The Independent''.