Winners
Current John Button Prize Winner
Andrew Charlton, senior economic adviser to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has won the $20,000 John Button Prize for writing on policy and politics.
Andrew Charlton
The judges described Dr Charlton’s essay as a “dispassionate, reasoned and original analysis” that confronted the core dilemma behind global attempts to address climate change – the huge gap in priorities between rich and poor nations.
“Every Australian over the age of 15 should read it, then we could start the climate change debate afresh and with a much larger perspective ,” one judge said.
Dr Charlton said he was honored to win the award. “John Button reflected the best of Australian politics. He was a thinker, a doer and a thoroughly decent man.”
In writing the essay, Dr Charlton, a former Rhodes Scholar, drew on his experience as a member of the Australian delegation that travelled to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
His essay defeated two other shortlisted entries, The Australian Moment by George Megalogenis, and Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals, by Anna Krien.
Andrew Charlton was awarded the prize at the Melbourne Writers Festival’s John Button Oration, given this year by American philosopher Professor Martha Nussbaum.
Current John Button School Prize Winner
The 2012 winner of the John Button School Prize is Anjali Bethune from Ruyton Girl’s School with Increased Immigration will Benefit Australia's Future.
Anjali Bethune
