The Orwell Society Young Journalist’s Award 2021 open for entries

Are you a young journalist, full time resident in the UK, studying for a journalism qualification or starting out on your journalism career?

If so why not apply for The Orwell Society Young Journalist’s Award worth up to £3,000?

George Orwell is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.  As well as author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm his work includes some of the greatest journalism of all time.

By way of support for this legacy The Orwell Society is seeking to award £3,000 to a young journalist keen to research and write a long form article about any aspect of Orwell’s life and work.

This is a great opportunity to win a prestigious award and it offers you the chance to make a difference to your future career.

If this is you:

• a student journalist (ie. a university undergraduate, post-graduate or a vocational trainee)
• or currently employed or self-employed as a journalist
• and in both cases your date of birth falls in or after 1991 and you are full time resident in the UK.

Please show us why you should be selected by completing the two tasks below. We look forward to seeing that you have standards and goals worthy of The Orwell Society Young Journalist’s Award 2021.

We ask you to submit the following by 9 April 2021 to Ann Kronbergs at info@orwellsociety.com:

• a 300-word statement saying what you believe to be important about Orwell as a writer and journalist and what aspect of his life and work you would propose to research during the year of the Award.
• a 700-word article responding to a current event which demonstrates an understanding of Orwell’s approach and style. Indicate the target publication (e.g. The Times), and if the target is a new medium (e.g. Huffpost, Tortoise) add a note on the differences in style required.
• a covering email to include the following: full name, address, date of birth, journalistic qualifications and experience.

The judging panel will consist of the following:

Mr Richard Blair (Patron of The Orwell Society and Orwell’s son)

Mr Ben Cooper (Freelance journalist and Publicity Officer, The Orwell Society)

Dr Jaron Murphy (Academic: Communication and Journalism, Bournemouth University)

Mrs Ann Kronbergs (Education Officer, The Orwell Society)

The judges will provide feedback on all applications.

The winner will receive £2,000 (as a cash prize in three instalments during the course of the year) and extra funding  up to £1,000 to cover costs incurred in the Orwell research project. The outcome of the Orwell research project will be an article for the Orwell Society Journal and/or other media outlets.

10 December 2020, amended 25 January 2021