Congratulations to Brian Thornton from Winchester University who is the 2025 winner of The Conversation Prize for writers, for his story Convicting the Innocent, a look at the systemic barriers facing people wrongly convicted of a crime.
We asked academics to submit a 2,000-word article and book pitch for the competition, run in partnership with Faber and Curtis Brown, and were overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of submissions we received. It was very difficult to pick just one winner from across countless themes and styles.
Brian’s article and book idea was shortlisted by the teams at The Conversation, Curtis Brown and Faber for its strong storytelling, exploring systematic failings in the legal system, and the strong use of case studies that brought colour to this subject.
