Friday, February 08, 2008

Attention Students: Want to Win £5,000?

The T.E. Utley Memorial Fund was established twenty years ago to commemorate a remarkable Conservative journalist and powerful contributor to political debate. T. E. Utley (always known as Peter), who died in 1988, was described by Lady Thatcher, who is Patron of the Memorial Fund, as ‘the most distinguished Tory thinker of our time’. A collection of some of his finest writing was published under the title A Tory Seer in 1989.

The Fund which perpetuates his memory makes an annual award to one or more young writers of promise — which is what Peter Utley himself would have wished since he went to great lengths to help those starting out on their careers in journalism. In 2008 the Trustees of the Fund propose to award a prize of £5,000 to an undergraduate student at a British university who submits an essay which best meets the high standard they require. The subject of the essay (which should be no more than 5,000 words) is: Will the United Kingdom still be united in ten years' time? And should it be?

The closing date for those who wish to submit essays will be Friday 16 May 2008. They should be sent or emailed to The Secretary at 111 Sugden Road, London, SW11 5ED. The prize will be presented by Lady Thatcher at a reception in London in June. The Trustees reserve the right to make more than one award or no award at all.

The Trustees, who include Michael Gove MP, Charles Moore, Andrew Gimson of The Daily Telegraph and Tom Utley of the Daily Mail, will judge the essays by reference to clarity of expression, rigour of thought and power of argument. The political standpoints adopted by those who submit essays will not affect their decision.

Peter Utley spent much of his career at The Daily Telegraph, where he was a Deputy Editor for several years. Telegraph Media Group is giving its official support to the prize this year, for which the Trustees are extremely grateful.

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