Prospect Think Tank of the Year Awards 2006

On 20th September Prospect held its annual Think Tank of the Year Awards at the Savile club in Mayfair
October 20, 2006

Policy Exchange, the centre-right group, has won this year's Prospect magazine think tank of the year award.

At the awards ceremony in London, judges commended the "zip" and "high impact" of the Cameron-leaning organisation and the energy of its director, Nicholas Boles.

Ed Balls MP, economic secretary at the treasury, presented the awards, noting that bright ideas and excellent think tanks were a necessary but not sufficient condition for political parties hoping to take power.

Runner-up think tank of the year was the Young Foundation, directed by Geoff Mulgan, former head of the prime minister's Strategy Unit. It was especially praised for its recent book, "The New East End," for "raising hard questions about conflicting social interests and public administration."

Judging was co-chaired by David Walker, editor of Guardian Public and Michael Gove MP, shadow Conservative minister for health. They consulted a range of commentators, advisers, officials and academics.

Winner of think tank publication of the year was "Securing Good Care for Older People: taking a long-term view," published by the King's Fund in March this year. The report, judges said, was analytical, numerate and in the best sense dispassionate. Two runners up in this category were "Narrowing the gap," the final report of the Fabian Commission on Life Chances and Child Poverty, published by the Fabian Society in March 2006 and "The Fiscal Maze: Parliament, government and public money" by Alex Brazier and Vidya Ram, published by the Hansard Society earlier this year.

Think tank website of the year was www.demos.co.uk. Judges said that Demos's revamping of its website had attracted widespread admiration, especially for its blogging facility and commitment to e-engagement.

David Walker said "the past year has been a good one for tankery. We received a number of strong recommendations and the publications field was outstanding." Among tanks commended by the judges were Reform, Centre for Cities, the Stockholm Network, the Work Foundation, the New Local Government Network, the Constitution Unit, the Social Market Foundation and Civitas.

 

Previous winners are the IFS, New Local Government Network, the Centre for European Reform, the New Economics Foundation and the IPPR.