The second annual Orwell Prize for political writing to include a blogging category will include on its judging panel the surprise winner of last year’s prize, Night Jack, aka Detective Constable Richard Horton.
You may remember that the anonymous police blogger was outed by The Times newspaper and subsequently got into trouble with his superior officers.
Both he and former Labour MP Oona King will judge the political blog shortlist.
Orwell Prize executive director Jean Seaton said, “We unexpectedly ended up in the middle of a high court battle after the Times sought to unmask Night Jack, and we are thrilled that amongst our distinguished judges, Richard Horton will be bringing his arresting and Orwell prize-winning common sense and wit to judging the blog prize.”
Though Horton still reads blogs, he says that his appetite for writing has been dampened after his brush with the media. He no longer blogs and has shelved the novel he was writing.
“Once I get the taste of hubris out of my mouth, I may get back to writing but I’m not doing anything at the moment,” he said.
