Key milestones

There are four key ‘milestones’: the launch and opening of submissions; the closing of submissions; the finalists announcement; and the announcement of the winners.

1) Opening of submissions and announcement of judges

New judging panels are announced each year. You can read about this year’s panels here.

Entry to the Orwell Prizes will open in November prior to the year in which the prizes are awarded, e.g. entry to The Orwell Prize 2024 will open in November 2023. All the prizes are currently open for entries via the online forms, here.

Rules and full eligibility criteria for all prizes are available here.

2) Closing of submissions

Entry to The Orwell Prize for Political Writing and The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction will close on 24 January 2024, with any final copies of books due by 28 February 2024.

Entry to the prizes for Journalism and Reporting Homelessness will close on 31 March 2024.

3) Finalists

Judging panels will select eight to ten finalists in late May/early June, which will be announced on The Orwell Foundation website.

4) Winners

The winners of The Orwell Prizes will be announced at the prize ceremony in central London in late June, on the closest Thursday to George Orwell’s birthday (25 June).