Photos: Alexander McLuckie, from "How Drug Dealing Gangs Are Taking Over the Countryside".
Last night, VICE's Global Drugs Editor Max Daly was awarded the 2019 Orwell Prize for "Exposing Britain's Social Evils".For the those of you not well versed in accolades awarded exclusively to writers in private ceremonies, the Orwell Prize is a particularly prestigious one. Every year, four awards are given out – one for a Fiction Book on Politics, one for a Non-Fiction Book on Politics, one for Journalism and then the one Max picked up, for Exposing Britain's Social Evils with his pioneering and extensive reporting on the UK's "county lines" phenomenon, where city drug gangs send teenagers out into the countryside to expand their business.You can read some of the articles that won Max the prize below, but first: some facts about the man himself:– He has a mini license plate on his desk that says "DRUG FREE ZONE", which his son gave him for Christmas.
– He used to be in a punk band, but won't tell us the name.
– Big fan of pea soup.
– Excellent at journalism, not so great at googling, GChat or Google Docs.
– Recently turned 50, making him perhaps the first VICE editorial person to ever do so.
– Suffered a fairly extreme allergic reaction to undercooked shiitake mushrooms, enlightening the editorial desk to the fact that this is a thing.
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– He used to be in a punk band, but won't tell us the name.
– Big fan of pea soup.
– Excellent at journalism, not so great at googling, GChat or Google Docs.
– Recently turned 50, making him perhaps the first VICE editorial person to ever do so.
– Suffered a fairly extreme allergic reaction to undercooked shiitake mushrooms, enlightening the editorial desk to the fact that this is a thing.
Okay, those articles:
Read more of our drugs coverage here.
