A BLOG following the finances of Rangers Football Club – which was placed into administration in February – has been named Blog of the Year by a competition celebrating the best of political writing.
Say the judges of The Orwell Prize of Rangers Tax Case: “The 2012 Blog Prize showed that not only could blogs comment on current events, they could drive stories forward. Rangers Tax-Case takes what might be a dry topic – the tax affairs of a sports team – and shows how a striving for transitory success has severely distorted sporting, legal and ethical boundaries.
“Displaying focused contempt for those who evade difficult truths, and beating almost every Scottish football journalist to the real story – Rangers Tax-Case shows how expertise and incisive writing can expose the hypocrisies the powerful use to protect themselves from the consequences of their actions. It is a worthy winner which not only proves that independent blogging is as healthy as it ever was, but also offers a mirror in which our times are reflected.”
The Orwell Prize also awarded its book prize to Toby Harnden, for Dead Men Risen, and its journalism prize to Amelia Gentleman, for pieces published by The Guardian.
Say the organisers of Gentleman: “This is the third consecutive year that Gentleman’s work has been shortlisted for the Journalism Prize. Her pieces consistently explore the most difficult places in our society: the Britain of benefit fraudsters, benefit dependents, the carers of our elderly, and institutions for young criminals. It is an unsparing gaze yet she is always delicate and respectful of the individuals within these – often malign – systems.”
