The Orwell Society / NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2022 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 and who would like to win a valuable and prestigious award?

If so, enter The Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2022, which offers a prize of £1,500 for each winner of the two categories stipulated below. In addition, winners who are studying towards a journalism qualification will each receive a free NUJ student membership. The runners-up in each category will receive a prize of £500. The two winners and two runners-up (four finalists in total) will each receive a three-year free membership of The Orwell Society.

George Orwell was one of the foremost writers of the twentieth century. Not only was he the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, his oeuvre includes some of the greatest journalism of all time. Famously, he was also a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the photo of his membership card has been reproduced for publications on his life and works. The image appears on this page, expressly to promote the Young Journalist’s Award, with the kind permission of The Orwell Estate and UCL Library, Special Collections.

The prestigious Young Journalist’s Award supports Orwell’s legacy and is also a great opportunity for up-and-coming journalists to boost their portfolios, CVs, profiles and industry networks.

You are eligible to enter if you are:

• a student journalist (i.e. 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 1992 and you are a full-time resident in the UK.

Please show us why you should be declared the winner by completing the two tasks below. We look forward to seeing that you have standards and goals worthy of the annual Young Journalist’s Award.

After checking our judging criteria below we ask you to submit the following tasks by Friday, 8 April 2022 to education@orwellsociety.com:

• an arts review on a subject of your choice (e.g. book, film, play, art exhibition, etc) of no fewer than 600 and no more than 700 words. Your review should include a headline and an indication of the target audience/publication.
• OR a column on a political subject of your choice of no fewer than 600 and no more than 700 words. Your column should include a headline and an indication of the target audience/publication.
• a reflection of no fewer than 250 and no more than 300 words, on how your review or column is informed by Orwell’s influence. You should explain which aspects of Orwell’s life and works have had an important bearing on your piece.
• a covering email to include the following: full name, address, date of birth, journalistic qualifications, and experience.

The judging panel will consist of:

• Richard Blair (Patron of The Orwell Society and Orwell’s son)
• Chair — Jaron Murphy (Senior Lecturer in Communication, Journalism and Literature; Bournemouth University)
• Ann Kronbergs (Education Officer, The Orwell Society)
• Elizabeth Howcroft (Young Journalist’s Award winner 2019 and Financial Journalist, Reuters)
• Frances Rafferty (Senior Editorial and Communications Officer, NUJ)
• Angela Smith (Professor of Language and Culture, University of Sunderland)

We would strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with examples of Orwell’s writing before entering this competition. The following preliminary reading list, consisting of 12 examples, offers a useful starting point:

Politics and the English Language (Horizon – 1944)

Inside the Whale (Inside the Whale – 1940)

Future of a Ruined Germany (The Observer – 1945)

Bertrand Russell, Power: A New Social Analysis (The Adelphi – 1939)

The Sporting Spirit – (Tribune – 1945)

You and the Atom Bomb (Tribune – 1945)

The Politics of Starvation (Tribune – 1946)

T.S. Eliot, Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (The Observer – 1948)

Wilde’s Utopia (The Observer – 1948)

Some Thoughts on the Common Toad (Tribune – 1946)

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (New English Weekly – 1940)

Confessions of a Book Reviewer (Tribune – 1946)

You can easily access most of these and further examples of Orwell’s writing at The Orwell Foundation’s website here.

The judges will not provide feedback to entrants, except to the winners and runners-up. The judges’ decision is final.

The Orwell Society reserves the right to first publication, and subsequent publication permissions, of the entries of the winners and runners-up. In recognition of the three years’ free membership of The Orwell Society, the winners and runners-up will perform ambassadorial and promotional duties with The Orwell Society.

Submission Rules:

1. The 300 word statement and 700 word max. arts review OR column piece should be presented ANONYMOUSLY in a Word file (not PDF), 12 pt Times Roman double spaced – with each page numbered and headed with the task title. Each task should end with a word count. Word file should be tagged with unique identifier eg. Toads.2022.

2. Separate Word file (not PDF) should include a cover page providing task titles, name, date of birth, name of educational institution/employer, name of programme studying on with start and finish dates or current employment role and start date (indicating whether full or part-time/freelancing), and full contact details (home address, phone number, email address, social media accounts). This Word file should be tagged with surname and initials and unique identifier eg. Blair.E.Toads.2022.doc

Judging Criteria:

1. Subject Knowledge (25%) – Demonstration of knowledge and understanding of the chosen subject. Attention to details which are both valid and relevant such as terms/concepts, theories, events, people, contexts and information. Depth and range of research and comprehension indicated by judicious incorporation of facts/quotes and pertinent definitions/explanations.

2. Intellectual Skills (25%) – Ability to articulate a clear and compelling position through cogent and coherent argumentation. Analysis and evaluation rather than mere description. Questioning and critical thinking rather than assumptions and platitudes. Overall command and synthesis of ideas and reasoning.

3. Subject-Specific Skills (25%) – Substantiation of points and arguments by reference to relevant examples. Marshalling of evidence to illustrate and illuminate. Credible sources and underpinnings rather than dubious claims and unsupported opinion.

4. Transferrable Skills (25%) – Standard of language usage (including grammar, punctuation, spelling and diction) as well as writing style (including expression, clarity, fluency and power). Structure supporting logical and methodical progression. Adherence to the specified word count and form of journalism.

Outcomes range:

Exceptional: 80%+

Excellent: 70-79%

Very good: 60-69%

Good: 50-59%

Basic: 40-49%

Insufficient: 0-39%