Irish Times assistant editor Fintan O’Toole has been longlisted for the prestigious Orwell Prize 2012 for political writing.
He was one of 12 journalists longlisted for the award in recognition of his work in The Irish Times and on the website openDemocracy.
The Orwell Prize is Britain’s most prestigious award for political writing.
Every year, awards are presented for a book, for journalism and, since 2009, for blogs. The aim is to reward writing which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition “to make political writing into an art”.
This year, 18 books and blogs were longlisted, in addition to the 12 journalists.
The articles for which O’Toole’s writing skills were recognised included Triumph of the spivs as democracy is sidelined; Reckless, feckless and feral employer is all talk, talk and The week that Anglophobia died.
Other journalists who have been nominated for the prize include Camilla Cavendish, who is associate editor at the Times of London; Daniel Finkelstein, chief leader writer at the same publication; Amelia Gentleman, social affairs writer with The Guardian; Peter Oborne, chief political commentator with the Daily Telegraph; and Steve Richards, who is political commentator with The Independent.
Authors on the longlist include Douglas Murray for
his book Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry, Christopher Hitchens for Arguably and Sonia Purnell for Just Boris: The Irresistible Rise of a Political Celebrity.
The shortlist for the prize will be announced on April 24th.