The Think Tank Awards
Prospect Magazine holds the annual Think Tank Awards, which celebrate and reward the work of Think Tanks on a national and global scale. The awards are supported by Shell. Categories include Global Think Tank of the Year, Publication of the Year, North American Think Tank of the Year, European Think Tank of the Year (excluding Britain), UK Think Tank of the Year, and many sub-categories for the UK. According to the official website, "The awards are judged by a cross-party panel looking for evidence of influence on public policy and on the public discourse. The judges will also consider the quality of research and potential of younger and smaller organisations." The awards have been running since 2001, and have been expanding exponentially to include more global awards for international Think Tanks. The winner of the most recent 2012 Think Tank awards (held at the Royal Society of Arts on the 10th of July) was Bruegel, based in Brussels, for their sophisticated and detailed analysis of the Eurozone crisis.
Previous winners:
2012: Global Think Tank of the Year: Bruegel. UK Think Tank of the Year: Social Market Foundation. Publication of the Year: Resolution Foundation, “The Essential Guide to Squeezed Britain”. North America Think Tank of the Year: Carnegie Endowment; Runner-up: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Europe (excluding UK) Think Tank of the Year: Bruegel (Brussels); Runner-up: Institute of Modern Politics (Sofia)
2011: Winner: National Institute of Economic and Social Research, for scrutiny of the government’s economic strategy. Runner up: The King’s Fund, for work on NHS reforms. International think tank of the year: Peterson Institute for International Economics: for coverage of the financial crisis. Runner up: Bruegel, for coverage of the eurozone. Publication of the year: Reform: “Every teacher matters”. Best foreign affairs think tank based in the UK: Joint award: Chatham House: for work on Yemen, and RUSI, for work on the Strategic Defence Review and China. One to Watch: Media Standards Trust, for the “Hacked Off” campaign and media scrutiny.
2010: (The judging panel for the 2010 awards this year was chaired by Ben Rogers, associate fellow of the IPPR and Demos, and included Kishwer Falkner, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the ministry of justice in the House of Lords; David Goodhart, Prospect editor-at-large; James Crabtree, Financial Times comment editor and Rohan Silva, senior adviser to David Cameron.)
Winner: The Institute for Government. Publication: Making Housing Affordable by Alex Morton of Policy Exchange. International: The European Council on Foreign Relations. One to Watch: ResPublica.
2009: (The panel of 2009 consisted of Baroness Falkner (Liberal Democrat peer), David Halpern (the Institute for Government and former advisor to Tony Blair), Rohan Silva (special advisor to George Osborne MP), David Walker (the Audit Commission), and Prospect’s editor, David Goodhart, and managing editor, James Crabtree. A fuller report is here .)
Winner (jointly awarded): Centre for Social Justice and IFS. One to watch: Demos. International: RUSI. Climate change: IPPR. Publication: Centre Forum, “A Balancing Act: Fair Solutions to a modern debt crisis”.
2008: (David Walker again chaired of the panel of judges—read his speech here .)
Winner: RUSI. Runner-up: IFS. Publication: Centre for Social Justice, “Breakthrough Britain—ending the costs of social breakdown”.
2007: (David Walker chaired of the panel of judges—read his speech here .)
Winner: IPPR. Runner-up: Centre Forum. International tank: Centre for European Reform. Runner-up international: RIIA.
2006: Winner: Policy Exchange. Runner-up: Young Foundation. Publication: King’s Fund, “Securing Good Care for Old People”. Website: Demos.
2005: Winner: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Runner-up: Civitas. One to watch: Overseas Development Institute. Publication: Policy Exchange, “Unaffordable Housing: Fables and Myths”. Website: The Climate Group.
2004: Winner: New Local Government Network. One to watch: Policy Exchange. Publication: Centre for European Reform, “Old Europe? Demographic Change and Pension Reform”.
2003: Winner: Centre for European Reform. One to watch: Catalyst. Publication: Civitas, “Do we need Mass Immigration?” .
2002: Winner: New Economics Foundation. One to watch: Civitas. Publication: IPPR, “A New Contract for Retirement”.
2001: Winner: IPPR. Runner-up: New Economics Foundation. One to watch: Scottish Council Foundation. Publication: Fabian Society, “Paying for Progress”.
Every year, the number of entries from the previous year is beaten, as more categories and a wider selection of issues are taken into account.
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