The Orwell Prize for Journalism and the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils 2016: Longlists announced

Wednesday 02 March 2016

Longlists for the Orwell Prize for Journalism and the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, were announced today, Wednesday 2nd March 2016. The Orwell Prize is Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. It is awarded each year to the book and journalism which come closest to George Orwell’s ambition to ‘make political writing into an art’. The Orwell Prize for Journalism is awarded to a journalist for sustained reportage and/or commentary which displays excellence in style and content.

  • Journalism longlist includes reporting from Iona Craig in Yemen, analysis from Rosie Blau in China and David Gardner on the Middle East and commentary on British Politics from Rachel Sylvester.
  • Longlistees in with a chance to join previous winners such as Timothy Garton Ash, Peter Hitchens, Marie Colvin, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Matthew Parris.

This is the second year that the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, which is sponsored and supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, will be awarded. The new prize rewards multi-media journalism featuring original, innovative and insightful reporting on social issues in the UK.

  • The soon-to-be digital only Independent has been successful with two long-listed entries, while other successful entries come from a variety of other media outlets including the Bureau of Investigative Journalislm, Vice News and openDemocracy.net.
  • Longlist features campaigns including those from London Evening Standard and the Observer.

The judges for the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils 2016 are  Julia Unwin, Nicholas Timmins, Emily Ashton and Faisal Islam. The judges for the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2016 are Frances Cairncross, Richard Tait and John Lloyd. Shortlists will be announced at an event featuring previous winner Andrew Norfolk on Thursday 21st April 2016. The winner of each £3000 prize will be announced at a Prize Ceremony at the end of May 2016. The Orwell Prize is also awarded each year for a book. The longlist for the Orwell Prize for books 2016 will be announced on Tuesday 8th March 2016. The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils 2016: Longlist Michael Buchanan, Investigation into NHS Failings (BBC) Sanchia Berg, Producing babies for the care system: breaking the cycle (BBC) Daniel Douglas, London’s Secret Exodus of the Poor (The Independent) Emily Dugan, Priced out of Justice (The Independent) Financial Times Team: Sally Gainsbury, Sarah Neville, John Burn-Murdoch, The Austerity State (The Financial Times) Nicci Gerrard, Words fail us: Dementia and the arts (The Observer) Alys Harte, Jonathan Coffey and Andrew Head, The Great Housing Benefit Scandal (BBC) Jackie Long, Job Rabkin and Lee Sorrell, Detention Undercover: Inside Yarl’s Wood (Channel 4) Penny Marshall and Disability News Service, Work Capability: Michael O’Sullivan’s Story (ITV) Maeve McClenaghan, The journey never ends: how the UK treats asylum seeking children (Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Vice News, openDemocracy.net) Team from the London Evening Standard: David Cohen, Matt Writtle, Kiran Mensah, The Estate We’re In (London Evening Standard) The HSBC Files Journalists: David Pegg, James Ball, Juliette Garside and David Leigh, The HSBC Files (The Guardian)   The Orwell Prize for Journalism 2016: Longlist James Astill, The Economist Rosie Blau, The Economist Oliver Bullough, British GQ, Granta, The Guardian, BBC Radio 4 Iona Craig, Al Jazeera America, BBC Radio 4, The Intercept, RTE Radio 1, The Independent David Gardner, Financial Times Shiraz Maher, New Statesman, The Guardian Douglas Murray, The Spectator, Standpoint Peter Oborne, The Spectator, Standpoint, The Daily Mail, BBC Radio 4, Middle East Eye, The Daily Telegraph Gideon Rachman, Financial Times David Smith, The Guardian The Sunday Times Insight Team: Jonathan Calvert, George Arbuthnott and David Collins, The Sunday Times Rachel Sylvester, The Times Louise Tickle, The Guardian, Family Law     The Judges for the Orwell Prize for Journalism said “We were struck by the sheer range of publications producing wonderful work and incisive commentary from the local community papers through to international heavyweight press. We were impressed by the number of interesting young journalists reflecting the diversity of modern Britain. We could easily have produced a list twice the length of the present one and each of us felt profound regret at some of the names we had to cross off the list”. Dame Julia Unwin, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and a judge for the Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils said “The quality of the entries this year is so impressive, and indicates clearly that the focus of journalism on Britain’s social evils is both effective and engaged. Journalism shines a bright light on that which is frequently uncomfortable but needs to be exposed – this year’s submissions do that powerfully.” For more information, please see www.orwellfoundation.com or contact the administrator at stephanie.lelievre@orwellfoundation.com or on 0207 848 7930   Ends Notes to editors:

  1. The Orwell Prize is Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. Every year, prizes are awarded to the book and journalism entries which come closest to George Orwell’s ambition to ‘make political writing into an art’.
  2. For more information, please see our website www.orwellfoundation.com
  3. The Orwell Prize 2016 is for books and journalism first published in the calendar year 2015. All entries must have a clear link to the UK and Ireland. The Prizes are self-nominating. Someone involved in the creation of the work should be responsible for entering it – this may be, for example, the author, editor, or publisher.
  4. The Prize was founded by the late Professor Sir Bernard Crick 1993, awarding its first prizes in 1994.
  5. Previous winners of the Orwell Prize for Journalism include Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (2002), Peter Hitchens (2010), Amelia Gentleman (2012) and Martin Chulov (2015).
  6. Alison Holt was the winner of the inaugural Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils for her reporting of care of the elderly and vulnerable.
  7. The Orwell Prize is sponsored and supported by Political Quarterly, AM Heath and Richard Blair.
  8. The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils is sponsored and supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an independent organisation working to inspire social change through research, policy and practice. or more information, please see https://www.jrf.org.uk/
  9. The Orwell Prize for Journalism 2016 received 109 entries. 30% of entrants were women. 30% of the longlisted entrants are women.
  10. The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils 2016 received 37 entries. 44% of entrants were women. 47% of the longlisted entrants are women.
  11. The Director of the Orwell Prize is Professor Jean Seaton
  12. The Orwell Prize is a registered charity (no. 1161563).