The Orwell Prize was founded in 1993 by Bernard Crick who decided to use royalties from George Orwell’s biography to award a book which came closest to living up to the Animal Farm writer’s goal to “make political writing into art.” Last year’s award was given posthumously to British jurist and human rights expert Thomas Bingham for his book The Rule of Law, which was described as a guide to our legal system made accessible to lay people.