Orwell Prize delays revealing decision on Hari

The Council of the Orwell Prize has "reluctantly" agreed to delay announcing its decision over the 2008 journalism award made to Independent journalist Johann Hari, which has been reviewed after allegations of plagiarism, while the newspaper carries out its own investigation.

A statement today said: "The Council of the Orwell Prize met on Thursday 21st July to consider Johann Hari’s 2008 submission for the journalism prize. After extensive deliberation, the Council arrived at a clear and unanimous decision, which drew from the combined journalistic and academic expertise of its members.

"It also considered a representation by Johann Hari in its deliberation, and appropriate weight was placed upon it. The Council of the Orwell Prize is fully satisfied that it has adopted the appropriate procedure for an exercise of this kind.

"The Independent has now requested that the Council consider further representations by Johann Hari before announcing the decision. However, it would appear that Johann Hari is not permitted to make any further representations whilst The Independent’s investigation is conducted.

"In these circumstances, the Council of the Orwell Prize has reluctantly consented to delay any formal announcement as to the status of the 2008 Orwell Prize for Journalism until The Independent has completed its own investigation. We will take no further action and make no further statements until that time."

Orwell judge Martin Bright attacks 'disgrace' of young journalists having to work for nothing

Martin Bright, a judge in this year’s George Orwell Journalism Prize for political writing, attacked the culture of young journalists having to offer "free labour" to get a start in journalism, when announcing the winner of the award at a ceremony in London last night.

Bright, political editor of the Jewish Chronicle, said it was now "almost impossible" to break into journalism without friends and family contacts and having to work for free. "It's a disgrace, the quality of journalism is suffering because of the restricted talent pool," he said.

The Journalism Prize was awarded to Jenni Russell for her work in the Sunday Times and the Guardian. Russell’s winning selection included commentary and analysis on centralisation and control, class, Clegg, Brown’s bullying, prostitution and the lonely and disabled, and a call to tax those with free university degrees.

The judges said: "Jenni Russell was the stand-out journalist in an outstanding field. Her empathy for the world beyond Westminster gives her writing an extra dimension often lacking in political insiders. There is an overriding humanity to her work, whether she is covering the death-throes of the last Labour government or the birth-pangs of the Coalition."

The Orwell Prize for blogging went to Graeme Archer, for his blog on ConservativeHome.

Archer, described as "a 41 year old, civilly-partnered vegetarian Tory who lives in Hackney and is mildly obsessed with swimming," is the first Orwell Blog Prize winner writing under his own name, rather than a pseudonym.

His winning posts covered everything from the coalition government to the controversy over a gay couple being turned away from a B&B, via competitive sport and open primaries.

The judges said: "Graeme Archer is a blogger with wonderful elegance and clarity. Whether he writes on party politics or just about what he sees around him in Hackney, he is sharply observant and invariably thought-provoking. His posts are engaging or disconcerting in turns, regardless of the political views of the reader. Graeme Archer is, in the unanimous verdict of the judges, the one blogger who did most last year to make good political blogging into an art."

Orwell Prize: Nominated bloggers and journalists

Organisers of the annual Orwell Prize have announced that 22 bloggers, rather than the usual 12, have been longlisted from a record 205 entries by judges David Allen Green, who blogs as Jack of Kent, and Gaby Hinsliff, journalist, blogger and former political editor of The Observer.

The longlisted bloggers are:

Adam Wagner: UK Human Rights Blog (http://ukhumanrightsblog.com)

Andrew Sparrow: Politics Live with Andrew Sparrow (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/series/politics-live-with-andrew-sparrow)

Anton Vowl: Enemies of Reason (http://enemiesofreason.co.uk)

Carl Gardner: Head of Legal (www.headoflegal.com); and Comment is Free, The Wardman Wire, Anglotopia.

Cath Elliott: Too Much To Say For Myself (http://toomuchtosayformyself.com/); and Liberal Conspiracy, Comment is Free.

Cathy Newman: The FactCheck Blog – Channel 4 News (http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/)

Crispian Jago: Science, Reason & Critical Thinking (http://crispian-jago.blogspot.com/)

Dan Hodges: Labour Uncut (http://labour-uncut.co.uk)

Daniel Hannan: Daniel Hannan – Telegraph Blogs (www.hannan.co.uk)

David Osler: David Osler (http://www.davidosler.com/) and Liberal Conspiracy.

Dr Petra: Dr Petra’s Blog (http://www.drpetra.co.uk/blog)

Duncan McLaren: Visiting Mabel (http://www.saga.co.uk/health/carers/blog/visiting-mabel/archive.asp)

Graeme Archer: ConservativeHome (http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/graeme_archer/index.html)

Heresiarch: Heresy Corner (http://heresycorner.blogspot.com)

Juliet Jacques: A Transgender Journey (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/transgender-journey)

Molly Bennett: Mid-Wife Crisis (http://mid-wife-crisis-blog.blogspot.com/)

Osama Diab: The Chronikler (http://chronikler.com/) and Comment is Free, New Statesman, Worldpress.

Paul Mason: Idle Scrawl – BBC Newsnight (www.bbc.co.uk/paulmason)

Paul Waugh: Paul Waugh (http://waugh.standard.co.uk) and The Waugh Room (http://www.politicshome.com/waughroom.html)

Penny Red: Laurie Penny – pop culture and radical politics with a feminist twist (http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny)

Prisoner Ben: Ben’s Prison Blog (http://prisonerben.blogspot.com/)

Sunder Katwala: Next Left (http://www.nextleft.org/) and Left Foot Forward, The Staggers (New Statesman).

Andrew Sparrow and Paul Mason were both shortlisted for the first Orwell Blog Prize in 2009 (Mason was also cited when Newsnight was presented with a Special Prize in 2007), while David Osler (longlisted last year), Heresiarch (longlisted in 2009) and Penny Red (Laurie Penny, shortlisted last year) make the longlist for a second time. Cathy Newman was longlisted for last year’s Journalism Prize.

Director of the Orwell Prize, Jean Seaton, said: "Blogging is evolving under our eyes, its purposes shifting. Public service watchdog? Clever reporting from new spaces in the political process? Telling it like it is in uncomfortable places? Different blogs are all of those and other things: it’s an increasingly sophisticated world.

This year’s longlist of 15 journalists (rather than the usual 12) for the Journalism Prize has come from a record field of 87 journalists.

The longlisted journalists are: Rory Carroll, The Guardian; The Observer; David Cohen, Evening Standard; Phillip Collins, The Times; David Gardner, Financial Times; Amelia Gentleman, The Guardian; Andrew Gilligan, Sunday Telegraph; Channel 4; The Guardian; The Spectator; Dominic Lawson, The Independent; Catherine Mayer, TIME; Douglas Murray, Standpoint; The Spectator; Literary Review; Wall Street Journal Europe; Gideon Rachman, Financial Times;Jenni Russell, Sunday Times; The Guardian; Rachel Shabi, The Guardian; Jack Shenker, Prospect; Guernica; The Observer; The Guardian; New Statesman; Jonathan Steele, The Guardian; London Review of Books; DeclanWalsh, The Guardian; Granta.

This year’s shortlists will be announced on 26th April, before a debate on the question, ‘Is it time to make monarchy history?’. The winners of the Orwell Prizes – each worth £3000 – will be announced at an awards ceremony at Church House, Westminster, on 18th May.