Longlisted for Orwell Prize!

This is really rather exciting. ‘Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness’ has been longlisted, in the blog category, for the Orwell Prize. Seeking to encourage George Orwell’s aim of elevating ‘political writing into an art’, two winning writers are normally chosen, one for authorship of a political book and one who has excelled in the field political journalism.

This year, however, sees the introduction of a prize for blogging. The list of entrants comprises a strong national field, many of whom would be considered ‘big beasts’ in the weblog world (not to mention a fair smattering of professionals).

I have been grateful for whatever small degree of recognition this site has gained since its inception, but it really is beyond my wildest expectations to be a contender for “the pre-eminent British prize for political writing”.

Details of the other eleven longlisted blogs and the posts on which they were judged are available here. Iain Dale and Oliver Kamm react to their inclusion.

Update: (Be grateful - I nearly decided to start another thread!). Radio 4's programme discussed the blog prize this morning. This piece from its website asks whether Orwell would have blogged, had he been around today.