Record Number Of Submissions For Orwell Prize 2010
Thursday 04 Feb 2010

The Orwell Prize 2010, Britain's most prestigious prize for political writing, has received a record number of entries for the Book Prize, Journalism Prize and Blog Prize. A full list is now available on the Orwell Prize website, www.theorwellprize.co.uk.

212 books will be considered for the 18 places on the longlist, compared to 198 in 2009. More than 30 novels are amongst the books competing to win the prize (Delia Jarrett Macauley's Moses, Citizen and Me, 2006, is still the only fiction winner). These include the award-winning Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel), The Ask and the Answer (Patrick Ness), and Beauty (Raphael Selbourne), as well as Patrick Neate's Jerusalem, China Miéville's The City and The City, and We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka (shortlisted in 2008 for Two Caravans). This year has also seen an explosion in the number of pamphlets entered by think-tanks, with the ippr, Centre for Social Justice, Institute for Government, CPS, the Fabian Society and Demos among those putting work forward.

The 84 journalism entries (versus 63 in 2009) include some of the year's biggest scoops, including Robert Winnett on MPs' expenses (Daily Telegraph), David Leigh on Trafigura, Paul Lewis on policing, Ian Cobain on torture, Iran and British hostages in Iraq (all The Guardian), Cathy Newman on British politics (Channel 4 News) and Jonathan Calvert and Claire Newell on the House of Lords (Sunday Times). There were also entries for campaigning journalism, including Rachel Cooke on library closures (The Observer) and Stefan Simanowitz on the people of the Western Sahara (freelance).

164 bloggers – nearly double last year's total of 83 – will do battle in the Blog Prize. Professional journalists, including BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders and Sky News foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall, will compete with blogosphere heavyweights including Iain Dale and Hopi Sen. There appears to be a 'Nightjack' effect after last year's Blog Prize was won by a pseudonymous detective, with a postal worker ('Roy Mayall'), a teacher ('Mr Teacher'), a social worker (named after the main character from 1984, 'Winston Smith'), a police officer ('PC Bloggs') and even a dominatrix ('sensory regulation') putting themselves forward anonymously. Joining a number of local councillors are MEPs Dan Hannan and Mary Honeyball, and MPs John Redwood and Douglas Carswell. Legal campaigner Jack of Kent (http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/) and exiled Jersey senator, Stuart Syvret (http://stuartsyvret.blogspot.com/) are among the more campaign-oriented entries.

Journalists Peter Hitchens and Henry Porter, both shortlisted for the Journalism Prize 2009, become the first entrants to submit for all three prizes.

Jean Seaton, Director of the Prize, said: 'This year, every journalist who has had a big scoop wants an Orwell Prize as well. At a moment when many revile politicians but are increasingly turning back to politics (because that's where the big problems we face are solved), the deep books, penetrating journalism and on-the-pulse blogs entered for the Orwell Prize should be on the reading lists of public and politicians alike.'

The longlists – of 18 books, 12 journalists and 12 bloggers – will be announced at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on Wednesday 24th March 2010, where the Prize will be organising a week of political discussion. The shortlists (of 6) will follow on 15th April, and the winners will be announced on 19th May.

This year's judges are Jonathan Heawood (Director, English PEN), Andrew Holgate (Literary Editor, Sunday Times) and Francine Stock (writer and broadcaster) for the Book Prize; Roger Graef (writer, filmmaker, criminologist) and Peter Kellner (journalist, President of YouGov) for the Journalism Prize; and Richard Horton ('Jack Night', winner of the Orwell Prize for Blogs 2009) and Oona King (Head of Diversity for Channel 4, former MP).