Anonymous social worker and police officer among Orwell blogger prize longlist

The longlists for the Orwell Prize 2010 have been announced, with two pseudonymous public sector workers among the contenders in the blog category, 'PC Ellie Bloggs' and social worker 'Winston Smith'.

The annual awards mark the best of British political writing in three categories: blogs, journalism and books.

In 2009, the Orwell prize saw its winning blogger 'Jack Night' unmasked by the UK High Court, following a legal challenge by the Times newspaper - an action widely criticised by many online media writers and the prize's organisers.

Jack Night, now known to be Richard Horton, is judging the 2010 blog prize, along with Oona King, head of diversity for Channel 4, former MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.

This year's longlist, whittled from 164 to 14, includes political blogger Iain Dale, legal blogger Jack of Kent and academic Mary Beard. Three mainstream journalists are also in the running: The Guardian's David Smith, the FT's Gideon Rachman and Sky News' Tim Marshall.

"Blogs have very quickly grown up into things you have to take a look at, something you can't afford to miss or be without. The very best blogs have a distinct individual voice, far from the shouty stereotype," said director of the Orwell Prize, Jean Seaton, in a release.

"What is especially remarkable - as evidenced by PC Bloggs, Winston Smith, Mary Beard, Jack of Kent and of course Jack Night - is how blogging is becoming a professional forum, doing a really healthy job of explaining the internal dilemmas of professions to bigger audiences. No other medium communicates this quite so well."

In the journalism category, the Guardian's Paul Lewis, named reporter of the year at this week's British Press Awards, is among the 14 longlisted entries. He will compete against Channel 4 News' Cathy Newman, his Guardian colleague Ian Cobain and the Independent's Rovert Verkaik, among others.

"In the middle of a period when journalism is under pressure and there is gloom about the future, the extraordinary investigative bite of a very large number of journalists is something to be cherished. Journalism may be under pressure, but the Prize shows democratically important journalism is being done," said Seaton.

This year's shortlists, of six in each category, will be announced at Thomson Reuters, Canary Wharf on Thursday 15 April at 7:00pm. The book prize long list can be seen at this link.
 
The prize received a record number of entries for 2010; double the number in the blog category.

Blogger prize longlist
David Osler: Dave's Part
David Smith: Letter from Africa
Gideon Rachman: Rachmanblog
Hopi Sen: Hopi Sen
Iain Dale: Iain Dale's Diary
Jack of Kent: Jack of Kent
Laurie Penny: Penny Red and others
Madam Miaow: Madam Miaow Says
Mary Beard: A Don’s Life
Morus: PoliticalBetting.com; Daily Kos
PC Ellie Bloggs: A Twenty-First Century Police Officer
ray: The Bad Old Days Will End
Tim Marshall: Foreign Matters
Winston Smith: Working with the Underclass

Journalism prize longlist
Arlidge, John: The Sunday Times (Magazine; News Review)
Cobain, Ian: The Guardian; G2
Foreman, Jonathan: Standpoint
Gentleman, Amelia: The Guardian (G2)
Hitchens, Peter: Mail on Sunday
Lewis, Paul: The Guardian
Loyd, Anthony: Standpoint; The Times
McRae, Hamish: The Independent
Newman, Cathy: Channel 4 News
Ostrovsky, Arkady: The Economist; Foreign Policy
Philp, Catherine: The Times
Reynolds, David: BBC (Radio 4, News online)
Riddell, Mary: Daily Telegraph
Verkaik, Robert: The Independent; The Independent on Sunday
 

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).