This year’s Orwell Youth Prize winners are now available to read in The Observer, in the start of a new media partnership reflecting our shared commitment to nurturing the next generation of brave journalists and writers. It is also a fitting connection: Orwell wrote for the paper regularly, hired by its legendary editor David Astor, who was also among his closest friends and supporters.
The winners and runners-up were judged by Nandana Sen, James Bloodworth, and Sophie Smith Galer, from a shortlist of 47 entries, which was itself chosen from over 1,300 entries by our volunteer readers. Sen described the finalists’ work as “stunning” in its range (poetry, memoir, satire, sci-fi, journalistic essays, even parodic tweets), and all demonstrating a “nuanced political conscience”.
The winners collected their prizes on stage at the Orwell Prize Ceremony, presented by Richard Blair, George Orwell’s son, alongside Nandana and James. They also receive a cash prize and a set of Orwell books, donated by Penguin.
The Orwell Youth Prize will return with a new theme this autumn, along with our unique offer of personal feedback for all secondary school students in the UK (including those studying a British Curriculum abroad). Find out more about our offer for teachers, or write to sam.hill@orwellfoundation.com for more information.
Read the winners in The Observer, and the runners-up on our website.
The Orwell Foundation is the registered charity authorised by the Orwell Estate to champion brave, clear writing and the values that defined Orwell’s life and work. Through the prestigious Orwell Prizes, a busy programme of events and exhibitions, and the innovative Orwell Youth Prize, we work to make sure the next generation has the platform, and the support, to think critically and write clearly.
Find out more and get involved at orwellfoundation.com, or, if you’re in the U.S., support our work through the American Friends of the Orwell Foundation.
President Obama recently named The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2026 Winner, Ben Lerner’s Transcription, on his 2026 summer reading list, alongside previous Orwell Prize winner Colson Whitehead. Lerner gave this exclusive interview to the Telegraph on taking home the Political Fiction prize.
Eighty-five years after Orwell sat down to write The Lion and the Unicorn, and just as England kicked off another World Cup campaign, we asked the panellists at this year’s Political Quarterly Conversation what Englishness means now.
John Denham, Pippa Catterall, Ros Wynne-Jones, Tom McTague and Chair Rosie Campbell grappled with a question the left has too often ceded to the far right: is there a progressive story of English identity, and if so, who’s telling it? Read Sam Taylor Hill’s write up here.
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