Image caption American journalist Colvin has been shortlisted for her book On the Front Line

Journalist Marie Colvin has been given a posthumous nomination for this year's Orwell Prize for political writing.

Seven books were chosen from 210 nominations including writing from the journalist who died in Syria last year.

The prize is awarded annually to the book that comes closest to George Orwell's ambition "to make political writing into an art".

Prize director Jean Seaton said they were looking for "writing that was measured and calm not simply angry".

Colvin's book, On the Front Line, was published in April last year, two months after she died in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.

Originally from New York, Colvin was a distinguished foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and had been based in London for many years.

Palestinian lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh, won The Orwell Prize for Books in 2008 with Palestinian Walks, was also shortlisted.

Other authors that made the list include former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, for his memoir, Leaving Alexandria, Indian novelist Pankaj Mishra's From the Ruins of the Empire and British lawyer Clive Stafford Smith's Injustice.

The panel included Baroness Joan Bakewell, author Nikita Lalwani and the assistant books editor of The Independent, Arifa Akbar.

"This year's judges started from Orwell's injunction, 'My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice'," said Seaton.

Six journalists were also shortlisted for for the Orwell Journalism Prize including two writers from The Independent, Christina Patterson and Kim Sengupta.

Both categories attract a £3,000 prize, which will be handed out at an awards ceremony in London on 15 May.