Literary award · United States · since 1975

Orwell Award

American non-fiction literary award (1975-). Established 1975 in United States.

About Orwell Award

The NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language (the Orwell Award for short) is an award given since 1975 by the Public Language Award Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English. It is awarded annually to "writers who have made outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse." Noam Chomsky, Donald Barlett, and James B. Steele are the only recipients to have won twice. Its negative counterpart, awarded by the same body, is the Doublespeak Award, "an ironic tribute to public speakers who have perpetuated language that is grossly deceptive, evasive, euphemistic, confusing, or self-centered."

From the Wikipedia article “Orwell Award”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Recent winners

YearWinnerWinning work
2020April Baker-Bell—
2014The Onion—
2012Peter Zuckerman—
2010Michael Pollan—
2009Amy Goodman—
2008Charlie Savage—
2007Ted Gup—
2006Steven H. Miles—
2005Jon Stewart—
2004Arundhati Roy—
2004Seymour Hersh—
2002Bill Press—
2001John Stauber—
2001Sheldon Rampton—
2000Alfie Kohn—

From Wikidata; the list may be incomplete for some years.

Eligibility and entering

Check the official rules of the Orwell Award for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.

Sources & data