Hatchet Job of the Year
Hatchet Job of the Year was a British journalism award given annually from 2012 to 2014 to "the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months". It was awarded by The Omnivore, a review aggregator website, with the aim to "raise the profile of professional critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism". The prize was a year's supply of potted shrimp.
Awards
2012
Winner:Shortlist:
- Mary Beard on Rome by Robert Hughes
- Geoff Dyer on The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
- Camilla Long on With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey
- Lachlan Mackinnon on Clavics by Geoffrey Hill
- Leo Robson on Martin Amis: The Biography by Richard Bradford
- Jenni Russell on Honey Money by Catherine Hakim
- David Sexton on The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy
2013
Winner:Shortlist:
- Craig Brown on The [Odd Couple (book)|The Odd Couple] by Richard Bradford,
- Ron Charles on Lionel Asbo by Martin Amis,
- Richard J. Evans on Hitler: A Short Biography by A.N. Wilson,
- Claire Harman on Silver: A Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion,
- Zoë Heller on Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie,
- Allan Massie on The [Divine Comedy (Craig Raine)|The Divine Comedy] by Craig Raine,
- Suzanne Moore on Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf,
- Lynn Barber, John Walsh and Francis Wheen
2014
Winner:- A. A. Gill on Autobiography by Morrissey,
- Craig Brown on Distant Intimacy: A Friendship in [the Age of the Internet] by Frederic Raphael and Joseph Epstein,
- Rachel Cooke on Strictly Ann: The Autobiography by Ann Widdecombe,
- Lucy Ellmann on Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland,
- Peter Kemp on The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt,
- Frederic Raphael on A Delicate Truth by John le Carré,
- David Sexton on The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton,
- Hedley Twiddle on The [Last Train to Zona Verde] by Paul Theroux,