Anywhere But Westminster, which has been running for over ten years, has documented many tumultuous political events over the past decade; from Brexit to coronavirus and life in lockdown. Co-created by the Guardian’s John Harris and John Domokos, the video series turns political coverage on its head, with its roots in journalism far beyond the centres of power as it chronicles the experiences of people and places too often ignored, says the Guardian.
Each year, The Orwell Foundation awards The Orwell Prizes for the best politically engaged writing and reporting; from fiction to investigative journalism. The Orwell Prize for Journalism is awarded to the best commentary or reporting which comes closest to achieving writer George Orwell’s ambition to “make political writing into an art”.
You can revisit key moments from Anywhere But Westminster’s decade-long history here.
The 2021 Orwell Prize for Journalism panel was chaired by former BBC China editor, Carrie Gracie. The judges were doctor and journalist, Kamran Abbasi; the Economist’s Rosie Blau, editor and journalist, Iain Martin; and BBC newsreader and presenter, Clive Myrie.
Carrie Gracie said that Anywhere But Westminster “rose to the Orwell challenge” by "getting up and down the country, talking to ordinary people, listening so hard to their stories and putting those stories at the heart of our understanding of contemporary Britain.”
Clive Myrie commented that by “giving voice to their subjects in their own words, the two Johns revealed deeper truths about the inequalities of society, so graphically exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. This was a fascinating, curated journey along roads journalists don’t travel as often as perhaps they should around Britain.”
Anywhere But Westminster was previously nominated for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2020.
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