Photo by The Orwell Society/Tiger Ant ProductionsBournemouth University (BU) student Katie O’Donnell has won the prestigious Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2026 in the Reviews category.
The annual Award is open to UK students and early career journalists aged between 18-25 and is named after the famous author and journalist George Orwell, who wrote well-known novels including ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four.’
With all entries anonymised for judging, Katie's review of studio album "Preacher's Daughter" by Ethel Cain stood out as the top entry to a stellar judging panel including Orwell Prize for Journalism winner Gary Younge, Byline Times editor Hardeep Matharu, critic and author Dorian Lynskey, and award-winning journalist and writer Tam Hussein.
Katie, who is studying for a BA (Hons) Communication and Media degree, is the first BU student to win an Orwell Award and said:
"Winning the award has really been a dream come true for me, I’ve been working quietly on expanding my portfolio through SubStack and my uni work, but having to work as a bartender to get through university really made me feel like I just wasn’t doing enough! Winning this award and being recognised for my work really solidified for me that my decision to pursue music and culture journalism after university was the right one. I struggle a lot with believing in myself and this really proved to me that it’s both possible for me to pursue a career and something I’m really good at! It was just a bonus that The Orwell Society was involved, I’m a huge fan!”
Katie continued: “I’d really like to thank Dr Jaron Murphy for encouraging me to enter for two years, he really saw something in me I couldn’t see in myself. I moved back home to Bournemouth after I was sexually assaulted at my old university. I moved home thinking I had really taken a huge step back. I felt like I’d somehow failed before my career had even started, but winning this award and meeting all my wonderful new friends here proved that coming home was the best thing I could’ve done and didn’t go through hell for nothing!"
Dr Jaron Murphy, Principal Academic in Communication, Journalism and Literature at BU and Chair of the judging panel, said: “I am absolutely delighted for Katie and her family who should be incredibly proud of her writing achievement.”
“Having encouraged Katie, after she had transferred to BU at Level 5, to look out for and enter the award, I am so pleased for her that she took the initiative to do so.”
“She is an example to fellow BU students to aim high and put themselves forward for opportunities to shine. Doing so has greatly enriched Katie's student experience and bolstered her employability, at a critical time when she is approaching the end of her final year on the course and looking ahead to her future.”
The prizegiving took place in London on Saturday 9 May and was an opportunity for Katie to meet George Orwell’s son Richard Blair and receive copies of Orwell’s books signed by him.
The Columns winner was Hugo Harvey, an incoming MA Journalism student at City St. George’s, University of London.
The winners each received £750 and free membership of the National Union of Journalists and the Orwell Society.
For further information about courses available in The Media School, please visit the BU website.
