This year there were a record number of nominations across all categories, say the organisers, including the new “Twitter Public Personality” category, judged solely by public vote. The categories also include a last minute addition for the best Olympics Commentator (which does not have a shortlist), to mark the plethora of remarkable commentary during the Olympics period.
The shortlists also feature a record number of female commentators – 14 in total.
The Twitter Public Personality shortlist has now been put to the public vote to determine the winner – all votes to be registered online via www.commentawards.com – closing on 30th September 2012.
The judging panel is chaired for the second year running by Harvey Goldsmith CBE. He says: “Not even the Leveson Enquiry can dampen the talent which shines out of British journalism and opinion journalism in particular, nor can it put out the public’s growing enthusiasm for top quality debate.”
The full list of category judges includes Stella Creasy MP, Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention; Huw Edwards, Presenter, BBC News at Ten; Lindsay Johnston, IB Operations Chief Operating Officer, UBS; Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery; Michael Prescott, Group Director of Corporate Affairs, BT Group and Marc Vlessing, Co-founder, Pocket. For the full list of category judges click here.
The winners will be announced on Thursday 18th October 2012 over a ceremony breakfast at the RIBA hosted by commentator, broadcaster and ei associate, Peter York.
Harvey Goldsmith will be announcing his winner of the Chair’s Choice award, and Editorial Intelligence will formally announce the inclusion of a new category for 2013 celebrating the best Science Commentator of the Year, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.
The Comment Awards 2012 are being held in association with lead partners Barclays, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone, and category sponsors as listed below.
The Comment Awards 2012 - Category Shortlists
Commentariat of the Year – Sponsored by Jaguar Land Rover
• David Aaronovitch, The Times
• Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian
• Suzanne Moore, Mail on Sunday & The Guardian
Best Comment Pages – Sponsored by the John Lewis Partnership
• Financial Times
• London Evening Standard
• The Times
Best Online Comment Site - Sponsored by Digital Animal
• Coffee House, The Spectator
• Comment is Free, The Guardian & The Observer
Columnist of the Year – Sponsored by Editorial Intelligence’s ‘ei Digest’
• Janet Street-Porter, The Independent
• Rosamund Urwin, London Evening Standard
• Toby Young, The Sun
Business Commentator – Sponsored by Taylor Bennett
• Christopher Caldwell, Financial Times
• Anthony Hilton, London Evening Standard
• Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
Cultural Commentator – Sponsored by Bishopsgate Institute
• Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair
• Caitlin Moran, The Times
• Will Self, New Statesman
Economics Commentator - Sponsored by ICAP
• Roger Bootle, The Sunday Telegraph
• Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Daily Telegraph
• Martin Wolf, Financial Times
Foreign Commentator – Sponsored by Independent Diplomat
• Patrick Cockburn, The Independent
• Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times
• Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair
• Donald Macintyre, The Independent
Media Commentator – Sponsored by Vodafone
• Peter Preston, The Observer
• Hugo Rifkind, The Times
• Gideon Spanier, London Evening Standard
• Michael Wolff, The Guardian & GQ
Independent Blogger
• Emma Burnell, www.scarletstandard.co.uk
• Martha Payne, www.neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk
• Mic Wright, www.brokenbottleboy.tumblr.com
Mainstream Media Blogger – Sponsored by Wardour
• Rowenna Davis, New Statesman
• Ellie-Mae O’Hagan, The Guardian
• Andrew Sparrow, The Guardian
Political Commentator – Sponsored by The Journalism Foundation
• Matthew d’Ancona, The Sunday Telegraph , GQ & London Evening Standard
• Philip Collins, The Times
• Tim Montgomerie, The Times
Sketch Commentator
• Simon Hoggart, The Guardian
• Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
• Ann Treneman, The Times
Sports Commentator
• Mike Atherton, The Times
• Simon Barnes, The Times
• Martin Samuel, Daily Mail
Twitter Politician
• Diane Abbott MP, @HackneyAbbott
• Louise Mensch MP, @LouiseMensch
• Tom Watson MP, @tom_watson
Twitter Public Personality – Sponsored by Evrythng
WINNER TO BE DECIDED BY PUBLIC VOTE: voting open now at www.commentawards.com (closing date is 30th September 2012)
• Deborah Orr, @DeborahJaneOrr
• Laurie Penny, @PennyRed
• Toby Young, @toadmeister
