Friday 26 June 2026
Last night, Thursday 25th June, we revealed the winners of the 2026 Orwell Prizes at a Ceremony at the Bloomsbury Theatre, hosted by Lord Kim Darroch, Chair of Trustees of The Orwell Foundation, on an evening which also saw Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov awarded the Special Prize for ‘one of the finest bodies of work in contemporary literature’.
The Orwell Prizes aim to encourage good writing and thinking about politics, with our panels of independent judges asked to find winning entries which best meet Orwell’s own ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’.
The winners of the 2026 Orwell Prizes are:
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Karen Bartlett – The Escape from Kabul (Duckworth Books)
Rohan Silva, Chair of Judges, said:
For this year’s prize, we especially looked for books that honour Orwell’s commitment to lucid language and intellectual honesty. By both of these standards, The Escape from Kabul smashes it out of the park. It’s taut and crisp, and shines a light on a story that deserves attention. The plight of Afghanistan’s immensely brave female judges in the face of Islamic fundamentalism is a gripping tale – and Karen Bartlett tells it with deep reserves of empathy and compassion. The book is truly Orwellian in the most positive sense, and a richly merited winner.”
Silva was joined on the judging panel by writer and journalist Jessie Lau; technology business editor at The Time, Katie Prescott; Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London, Lawrence Freedman; and founding editor of Works in Progress and head of publishing at Stripe, Sam Bowman.
The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
Ben Lerner – Transcription (Granta)
Fiammetta Rocco, Chair of Judges, said:
Our shortlist is full of books which explore the world we know and look towards the world we want to see – our winning book needed to encompass both. For a book so slim, Transcription by Ben Lerner does so much. A forensic study of our insatiable appetite for new technology, it explores the unreliable stories we tell ourselves about hunger, love and connection. It is about dying with dignity and growing up in a new world. It’s funny, brainy and timely. Lerner deserves to be a household name.”
Joining Fiammetta Rocco on the panel were Cal Revely-Calder, literary editor of The Telegraph; Olivette Otele, Distinguished Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS, University of London; and Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at University College London.
The Orwell Prize for Journalism
Greg Williams, Chair of Judges, said:
It requires a special kind of courage to investigate the state itself: to follow evidence wherever it leads, and however long it takes. Hannah O’Grady and her Panorama colleagues spent years refusing to let allegations of unlawful killing by Special Forces in Afghanistan be buried by institutional silence and their exceptional entry was only the latest step in that story. Bravery, intellectual courage and political purpose are core Orwell Prize values, values which exist to reward work that holds power to account. It is hard to imagine a clearer case.”
Joining Greg Williams on The Orwell Prize for Journalism judging panel were lawyer, businesswoman and racial justice campaigner Sayeeda Warsi; Executive Producer with Al Jazeera English Meenakshi Ravi; and acclaimed investigative journalist Nick Davies.
The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, sponsored by Prospect
Island of Strangers, The Daily Mirror
Philip Collins, Chair of Judges and editor of Prospect, said:
The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils celebrates the best investigative reporting on our social fabric. As that name implies, the worlds these films enter – from Merseyside to St Mellons – are complex and Island of Strangers celebrates that complexity in our country’s written-off communities, rejecting simplistic stories of despair. Ros, Claire and John have shown us that the truth is almost always more complicated, and more hopeful, than the slogans. Together, they have given us a portrait of a country that, beneath the noise, is still full of people working together.”
In addition to the overall winners, two runners-up were also announced: Hannah Barnes (The New Statesman), for her work exposing the crisis in England’s maternity services, and Katherine Denkinson (London Centric, with Jim Waterson and Polly Smythe) for a series of investigations into the fake stories gaining huge attention and worsening public trust on social media platforms like TikTok.
Chair Philip Collins was joined on the panel by activist and author, Mina Smallman; former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd; Abby Jitendra, Principal Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation,
The Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness, sponsored by the Centre for Homelessness Impact
Michael Gove, Chair of Judges, said:
London Centric were deserved winners from an incredibly strong field. These articles together are a brilliant example of campaigning journalism, shining a light on outrageous behaviour and one of the most grotesque forms of landlordism. But they also generate a challenge to policy makers, by bringing to life the reality of how dysfunctional our property market is, and what we all need to do to prevent homelessness before it happens.”
Michael Gove was joined on the panel by Lígia Teixeira, CEO of the Centre for Homelessness Impact, Sarah O’Connor, columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times, and Mel Young, advocate and President of the Homeless World Cup.
Special Prize awarded to Andrey Kurkov
Andrey Kurkov was also present to receive the Special Prize, which has been awarded only eight times since 1997.
Lord Kim Darroch, Chair of Trustees, said:
Tonight, we are honoured to have with us the greatest living writer of his nation. As Orwell did, he writes across fiction, non-fiction and journalism. Readers across the world marvel at the beauty of his storytelling and the horrors of the war he describes. Today, people going about their daily lives in Sudan, Gaza, Myanmar and many more besides – are sadly familiar with the realities of war. And so too, of course, are our European neighbours in Ukraine.
Nobody has documented their daily struggle – and the resilience, humour and togetherness emerging from it – as well as Andrey Kurkov. Alongside his diaries and essays, his novels – from the brilliant Death and the Penguin to his recent trilogy set in pre-Revolutionary Kyiv – constitute one of the finest bodies of work in contemporary literature. Orwell’s warnings against the dangers of totalitarianism and war read today as though they were written yesterday. Similarly, we believe Andrey’s books and journalism will endure.”
The Orwell Youth Prize
The winners and runners up in the Orwell Youth Prize also attended the Orwell Prize Ceremony and were awarded their prizes on stage by Richard Blair, George Orwell’s son, who was joined by judges James Bloodworth, and Nandana Sen.
From an impressive range of over 1300 final entries from young writers across the UK, our volunteer readers chose a shortlist of 47 stand-out pieces of writing, which were all carefully considered by our judges Sophia Smith Galer, James Bloodworth, and Nandana Sen. Sen said:
I’m stunned not only by the sheer beauty of the winning entries, but also the nuanced political conscience (and global relevance) driving the work of all the finalists. Equally impressive is the spectacular range of genres that the teen and tween writers have chosen to express themselves in — be it fiction, play, poetry, memoir, letters, screenplay, narrative nonfiction, journalistic essays, social media posts, or diary entries. Even within fiction, I was thrilled to read sci-fi, satire, fantasy, naturalistic stories, YA fiction, and parodic tweets, to name just a few.”
This year’s winners will be published in The Observer, marking the start of an exciting new media partnership. Orwell wrote regularly for the paper, and its legendary editor David Astor was his close friend, and among his most important supporters. Winners also receive a cash prize and a set of Orwell books, donated by Penguin.
The 2026 Bernard Crick Prize
The Crick Prize, for the best essay in the Political Quarterly magazine, was also awarded last night to Lee Jarvis, Michael Lister and Alex Powell for their article ‘Stop in the Law of the Name! Nominative lawmaking, populism and justice,’ which is available to read on the Political Quarterly website here.
The Crick Prize is named after the British political theorist Sir Bernard Crick, who first founded the Orwell Prize with support from the Political Quarterly.
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About The Orwell Prizes
The Orwell Prizes aim to encourage good writing and thinking about politics, with our panels of independent judges asked to find winning entries which best meet Orwell’s own ambition ‘to make political writing into an art’. The Prizes exist to champion creativity and to explore plurality of opinion across books and journalism.
Since the Orwell Prize was awarded for the first time in 1994, the number of categories has grown to include awards celebrating writing and reporting which draws on the full range of Orwell’s contemporary legacy. In 2026, the Orwell Foundation is running six 6 prizes: the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the Orwell Prize for Journalism, the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, the Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness and the Orwell Youth Prize.
About The Orwell Foundation
The Orwell Foundation exists to promote George Orwell’s values of bravery, integrity, decency and fidelity to truth. Whether through the prestigious Orwell Prizes, its stimulating events programme, or the innovative Youth Prize, it works to bring to life George Orwell’s vision of a decent society where thought is free, truth is valued and brave writing is celebrated.
An independent charity, the Foundation champions plurality of opinion and ideas by running prizes and events which nourish courageous writing, and connect with audiences on subjects emerging from George Orwell’s works including poverty, totalitarianism, the corruption of language and the rise of new technologies.
The Orwell Foundation raises all of its funding through grants, sponsorship and individual donations.
About Prospect Magazine
Sponsor of The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils
Prospect is the UK’s leading monthly magazine for politics, policy, and culture. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Prospect is known for agenda-setting essays, interviews, and analysis from across the political spectrum. The magazine is committed to providing rigorous, long-form journalism for readers who want depth, clarity, and insight on the issues that shape our world.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
About the Centre for Homelessness Impact
Sponsor of The Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness
The Centre for Homelessness Impact is the UK’s What Works Centre for Homelessness. It champions the creation and use of better evidence for a world without homelessness and is a member of the What Works Network. It seeks to improve the lives of those experiencing homelessness by ensuring policy, practice and funding decisions are underpinned by reliable evidence.
www.homelessnessimpact.org