Prospect magazine has “escaped the little magazine ghetto”, according to its editor, after beating rivals The Spectator and New Statesman to the Political Publication of the Year Award.
The nine-year-old independent monthly magazine, which has a circulation of nearly 25,000, was awarded the gong by judges at the Political Studies Association Awards on Tuesday.
The magazine beat the long-established Spectator , last year’s winner, despite The Spectator ‘s high public profile in the past year.
Jon Tonge, chairman of events at the Political Studies Association, said Prospect was a “more deserving winner” because of its provocative and thoughtful writing. He added: “The Spectator has probably been more talked about in the past year, but that’s been for the shenanigans offstage, while Prospect has become known for the right reasons.
“It has a balance of contributions from established figures and rising stars, and has published articles that have set off much outside debate, such as its piece on multiculturalism in Britain.”
Prospect editor David Goodhart, a former senior correspondent for the Financial Times , who set up the magazine in 1995 with former Tory MP Derek Coombs, said: “We’re obviously very happy.
“It crowns a very good year for Prospect magazine, in which we’ve escaped from the little magazine ghetto, overtaking the New Statesman in circulation, starting a national debate on the solidarity versus diversity problem and outraging everybody with our list of 100 top public intellectuals.”
Other awards went to Andrew Marr as political broadcaster of the year, for the “clarity, perceptiveness and humour of his broadcasts”, and Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh as journalist of the year. The judges described him as being “at the cutting edge of political journalism for many years”. Times columnist Peter Riddell was awarded the prize for political columnist of the year.
The judges said his column was “marked by depth and insight” and had become the standard by which others were judged.
The Political Studies Association brings together Britain’s leading political science academics, and presents awards to politicians, journalists and academics to recognise their contribution to and achievement in the conduct, reporting and study of politics.
By Alyson Fixter
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