Now in its seventh year, the annual ceremony recognises and celebrates the UK’s best print and online commentators and their editors. The awards are run by Editorial Intelligence, the knowledge networking business.
The Comment Pages of the Year award went to the Financial Times, along with four other awards for their comment writers, including Commentariat of the Year and Political Commentator of the Year, both awarded to Janan Ganesh.
This year’s event also saw five new categories awarded, including Young Commentariat of the Year, which went to Bintu Sannoh (The Observer); Society and Diversity Commentator of the Year, which was awarded to Jenni Russell (The Times); Technology and Digital Commentator of the Year, which went to Cory Doctorow (the Guardian); and Comment Piece of the Year, which was awarded to David Aaronovitch (The Times).
A new Special Award to celebrate overall excellence in the world of comment and opinion, given by Editorial Intelligence's daily comment bulletin eiDigest, was awarded to The Sun’s Leader column, "The Sun Says".
Sir Anthony Seldon, chair of this year’s judges, named Andrew Rawnsley (The Observer) as Chair’s Choice. Announcing the winners, he said: “It’s been an exemplary 12 months for UK comment journalism across the media landscape – from the general election at home, to political upheaval abroad; a changing media landscape, to violent attacks on free expression – there is a vibrancy of material to be covered. From one of the strongest shortlists the awards has ever had, these winners stood out for our judges – a remarkable feat. We’re delighted to celebrate their work here and this sector of the media as a whole – never has our tradition of comment journalism been more important.”
Announcing new categories for 2016, Julia Hobsbawm OBE, founder of Editorial Intelligence and The Comment Awards, said: “We will continue to celebrate all that is vibrant, eclectic and exciting about UK comment in 2016. In addition to this year's fresh categories we will be announcing a handful more, including 'Contrarian Commentator of the Year' for the most controversial well-written voice in a column.”
The Comment Awards 2015 winners in full:
CHAIR’S CHOICE
Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer
EIDIGEST SPECIAL AWARD
'The Sun Says' - The Sun
ARTS, CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Hugo Rifkind, The Times
BUSINESS COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services
Gillian Tett, Financial Times
BUSINESS ETHICS COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by IESE Business School
Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Ipsos MORI
Simon Jenkins, London Evening Standard
COMMENT PAGES OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Vodafone
Financial Times
COMMENT PIECE OF THE YEAR (new category)
Sponsored by eiDigest
David Aaronovitch, The Times
COMMENTARIAT OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by John Lewis Partnership
Janan Ganesh, Financial Times
ECONOMICS COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Barclays
Allister Heath, The Daily Telegraph
FOREIGN COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Gifted to the IRC – International Rescue Committee
Gary Younge, The Guardian
INDEPENDENT BLOGGER OF THE YEAR
Matthew Scott, Barrister Blogger
MEDIA COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Sathnam Sanghera, The Times
ONLINE COMMENT SITE OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Virgin Media
Channel 4 News
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Weber Shandwick
Janan Ganesh, Financial Times
SCIENCE COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Wellcome Trust
Philip Ball, Prospect Magazine
SOCIETY AND DIVERSITY COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR (new category)
Sponsored by Lloyd’s Banking Group
Jenni Russell, The Times
TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR (new category)
Cory Doctorow, The Guardian
YOUNG COMMENTARIAT OF THE YEAR (new category)
Sponsored by the Taylor Bennett Foundation
Bintu Sannoh, The Observer
This year’s judges, chaired by Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice Chancellor of Buckingham University, hail from an eclectic range of industries and background with a 50/50 gender split, and include: broadcaster and author, Anita Anand; Director of Entertainment and Comedy at ITV, Elaine Bedell; Managing Partner for Talent UK & Ireland at EY, Liz Bingham OBE; Chair in Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study’s, Sarah Churchwell; director and producer Menhaj Huda; President of YouGov, Peter Kellner; Editor of Management Today, Matthew Gwyther; Founder of MDR, Chris Preddie OBE; journalist and author, Rachel Shabi; and Global Business Leader at Google, James Rosenthal.
