If you haven't guessed by now, I am a little George Orwell obsessed. So when I read that Jenni Russell won the 2011 Orwell Prize for Journalism, I had to check out her work.
The Orwell Prize for Journalism is a British prize for political writing founded in 1993. Three prizes are awarded each year, one for a book, one for journalism and one for blogging. The winners are those who come the closest to Orwell's ambition of making political writing into an art. Orwell's own adopted son sponsors the prize. As a newbie blogger and a student of journalism, I think I just found a new goal for myself.
Russell is a British columnist and broadcaster. She writes for the Evening Standard as well as the Sunday Times and the Guardian. And she has two kids on top of that. Her son submitted several samples of her work to be considered for the prize. After reading a few of her pieces, I find her style of writing somewhat fascinating -- I think Orwell would appreciate her efforts of uncovering truth with an artistic balance.
I also thought it was interesting what Jon Slattery had to say about the contest -- or rather what judge Martin Bright had to say about the direction journalism has gone. He said it's almost impossible for young journalists to break into the field without offering to work for free and knowing all the right people.
Here are some samples of Russel's work:
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