Rio Tinto: The David Watt Prize 2008 - winner announced

Friday, 4 July 2008 12:00 AM

The winner of the 2008 David Watt Prize for journalism is Jonathan Freedland for his article published in The New York Review of Books entitled Bush's Amazing Achievement. The article was published in June 2007 and it examines the effects of the Bush presidency in some detail.

The presentation lunch, at which the Prize was awarded, was hosted by the Rio Tinto's chairman, Paul Skinner, who is also chairman of the judging panel. Mr Skinner applauded not only the excellence of the winning article, but also the very high calibre of the others on the short list. These were:

• Caroline Lambert: The long journey of a young democracy, published in The Economist
  
• Michela Wrong: The bucks stop here, published in the Financial Times
  
• Mary Ann Sieghart: Watch that halo of Saint Gordon vanish gradually. published in The Times
  
• Gideon Rachman: Europe ditches clarity and embraces obfuscation, published in the Financial Times
  
• Andrew Miller: The warlord and the spook, published in The Economist
  
• Edward Luttwak: The middle of nowhere, published in Prospect
  
• Peter Riddell: Avoid humiliation - learn from the decisions of history, published in The Times
  
• Andrew Sullivan: The new face of America, published in The Sunday Times
  
• Peter David: Mugged by reality, published in The Economist
  
• David Gardner: Europe should celebrate this milestone in Turkey's transition, published in the Financial Times
  
• Mark Townsend: Is it still winnable?, published in The Observer

The speaker at the presentation lunch was Frank Gardner OBE.

About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.

Contacts:

For further information please contact

Celia Beale
Tel: +44 (0)1985 8446143
Mobile: + 44 (0) 07764 612 152
Email: celiabeale@globalnet.co.uk
Website: http://www.riotinto.com

Further information:

Email: questions@riotinto.com

Website: www.riotinto.com

High resolution photographs available at: www.newscast.co.uk

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