Wednesday 24 October 2012
• 2013 Prize opens for entries – ENTER NOW • Baroness Joan Bakewell, Nikita Lalwani and Arifa Akbar to judge Book Prize • Nicholas Timmins and Jo Glanville to judge Journalism Prize • Blog Prize suspended this year for reform • The Orwell Prize launch ‘Buy a book for Burma’ appeal The Orwell Prize 2013 opened for submissions this evening, as the judges for this year’s Prizes were announced. This year’s Book Prize judges are Baroness Joan Bakewell, Labour party peer, broadcaster and writer; Nikita Lalwani, author of The Village and 2008 Desmond Elliot prize winning Gifted; and Arifa Akbar, the assistant books editor of the Independent. Judging the Journalism Prize 2013 are Nicholas Timmins, former Public Policy Editor of the Financial Times and author of The Five Giants; A Biography of the Welfare State; and Jo Glanville, Director of English Pen and former editor of Index on Censorship. The blog prize will be suspended for a year of reform. For more information on this see Director Jean Seaton’s comment for the Guardian. It was also announced that in 2013 the Orwell Prize will be taking part in The Irrawaddy Literary Festival, Burma’s first English language literary festival, and taking copies of Orwell’s classic novels. The ‘Buy a book for Burma’ appeal was launched at this evening’s event. To donate click here or for more information click here. The Prizes are awarded to the work which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. Each winner receives £3000 and a plaque bearing Orwell’s quote. Full entry details can be found on the Orwell Prize website. All entries must have a clear relationship with the UK or Ireland, and there is no charge at any point to enter any of the Prizes. This year’s longlists will be announced on 20 March 2013, with the shortlists being revealed on 17 April 2012. The winners of the Orwell Prizes 2013 will be announced at an awards ceremony at Church House, London, on 15 May 2012. Director of the Prize, Jean Seaton, said: “Clarity about difficult things is what we need to get through the political and economic crisis we are living within. The Orwell Prize hopes to find clear thinking, honest expression and radicalism in the work that is about to come in.” Entries for the Orwell Prize 2013 will close on Wednesday 9 January 2013, for work published in 2012. The Prize judges were announced at a launch debate, ‘A crisis in policing?’, at London’s Frontline Club. On the panel were Roger Graef (criminologist and BAFTA winning film-maker), Denis MacShane (MP for Rotherham), Andrew Norfolk (The Times journalist instrumental in breaking the Rotherham grooming scandal) and Vivienne Hayes (CEO of the Women’s Resource Centre, specialists in gender policy analysis and a lead partner in the Safer Future Communities Partnership, funded by the Home Office, which supports engagement with new Police and Crime Commissioners). ENDS 1. The Orwell Prize is Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. Every year, prizes are awarded to the work – for the book and for the journalism – which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. 2. The Prize was founded by the late Professor Sir Bernard Crick in its present form in 1993, awarding its first prizes in 1994. The Media Standards Trust, Political Quarterly and Orwell Trust are partners in running the Prize, through the Council of the Orwell Prize. Richard Blair (Orwell’s son) is a sponsor, with support from A. M. Heath. 3. For further information, please contact the Operations Manager, Katriona Lewis, at katriona.lewis@mediastandardstrust.org, or on 0207 229 5722.