Submitting your writing to a competition is a great achievement in itself – but what happens after you send in your work?
When you submit your final entry, it is read by at least two of our volunteer readers, who help us to create a shortlist of the entries which stand out to them as being the most original, well-argued and/or well-written responses to the theme.
We use our readers’ advice to create a final shortlist, which we send to the judges. The judges then select their winners and runners up for each of our three age categories, as well as any highly commended entries for a special mention.
Meet the judges: The Orwell Youth Prize 2026
Sophia Smith Galer is an author, journalist and content creator credited with pioneering journalism on TikTok in the United Kingdom. Sophia’s investigative reporting for the BBC and VICE News has won her awards around the globe and her videos on TikTok and Instagram have been viewed more than 180 million times. She is a British Journalism Award winner, a Forbes Under 30 honoree and named one of the 25 most influential women in the UK by British Vogue in 2022.
James Bloodworth is a journalist, former editor of Labour blog Left Foot Forward, and author of Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain and his new book, Lost Boys: A Personal Journey Through the Manosphere
Nandana Dev Sen is an award-winning actor, writer, and child-rights activist. Nandana worked as a literary editor, a screenwriter, a poetry translator, a child-protection advocate, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. She is the author of six children’s books, and Youthquake, a fiction series for young adults (published in The Wire, The Telegraph, and Youth Ki Awaaz).
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