The Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism
- The Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism
- Entries
- Terms and conditions
- Shortlist 2025
- Previous winners
- The Journalism of Anthony Burgess
The Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism:
The 2025 Observer / Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism is now closed for entries. Thanks to everyone for entering. Our judges are now in deliberation, and we will announce a longlist and a shortlist in the lead up to our winners’ announcement on 14 May 2025.
This is a writing competition with a prize fund of £4,000 and an opportunity for your work to be published in the Observer newspaper.
The aim of the prize is to discover and celebrate new talent in arts journalism. All we ask is that you impress the panel of judges with your best work. Your entry should be a previously unpublished review of up to 800 words on new work in the arts, suitable for publication in the Observer.
We welcome entries from anywhere in the world, and you are welcome to enter more than once. All entries should be written in English.
Anthony Burgess wrote for the Observer for more than thirty years, and this prize celebrates his connection with the newspaper. He had a wide range of interests, and there is no restriction on the artform featured in your review.
The winning piece could be about an album, book, concert, exhibition, film, audio drama, a piece of theatre or a TV show, or any other artwork which offers the opportunity to write a lively and thoughtful review.
‘New work’ in the arts means anything that has appeared since 1 January 2024, although we can be flexible about this date (for example, for a touring exhibition, or the revival of a stage play).
For examples of the kind of thing we would like to see, here are pieces by previous winners; and here are the Culture pages of the Guardian / Observer website.
On 14 May 2025, we will announce the winner of the first prize, which is £3,000 and publication in the Observer.
Two runners-up will receive £500 each.
This year’s judges include Sarah Donaldson, Deputy Editor and Arts Editor of the Observer, and Andrew Biswell, director of the Anthony Burgess Foundation.
The prizes are awarded by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation and the Observer.
Entries are closed for the 2025 competition. Entries for next year will open in June 2025.
