Hatchet Job of the Year was a British journalism award given annually from 2012 to 2014 to "the writer of the angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review of the past twelve months".^[1] It was awarded by The Omnivore, a review aggregator website,^[2] with the aim to "raise the profile of professional critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism".^[1] The prize was a year's supply of potted shrimp.

Awards

2012

Winner:

• Adam Mars-Jones on By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (The Observer)

Shortlist:

• Mary Beard on Rome by Robert Hughes (The Guardian)
• Geoff Dyer on The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (The New York Times)
• Camilla Long on With the Kisses of His Mouth by Monique Roffey (The Sunday Times)
• Lachlan Mackinnon on Clavics by Geoffrey Hill (The Independent)
• Leo Robson on Martin Amis: The Biography by Richard Bradford (New Statesman)
• Jenni Russell on Honey Money by Catherine Hakim (The Sunday Times)
• David Sexton on The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy (London Evening Standard)

Judges:

• Suzi Feay, Rachel Johnson, Sam Leith, D.J. Taylor

2013

Winner:

• Camilla Long on Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation by Rachel Cusk, (The Sunday Times)

Shortlist:

• Craig Brown on The Odd Couple by Richard Bradford, (The Mail on Sunday)
• Ron Charles on Lionel Asbo by Martin Amis, (The Washington Post)
• Richard J. Evans on Hitler: A Short Biography by A.N. Wilson, (New Statesman)
• Claire Harman on Silver: A Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion, (London Evening Standard)
• Zoë Heller on Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie, (New York Review of Books)
• Allan Massie on The Divine Comedy by Craig Raine, (The Scotsman)
• Suzanne Moore on Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf, (The Guardian)

Judges:

• Lynn Barber, John Walsh and Francis Wheen^[3]

2014

Winner:

• A. A. Gill on Autobiography by Morrissey, (The Sunday Times)^[4]

Shortlist:

• Craig Brown on Distant Intimacy: A Friendship in the Age of the Internet by Frederic Raphael and Joseph Epstein, (The Mail on Sunday)
• Rachel Cooke on Strictly Ann: The Autobiography by Ann Widdecombe, (The Observer)
• Lucy Ellmann on Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland, (The Guardian)
• Peter Kemp on The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, (The Sunday Times)
• Frederic Raphael on A Delicate Truth by John le Carré, (The Times Literary Supplement)
• David Sexton on The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, (London Evening Standard)
• Hedley Twiddle on The Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux, (New Statesman)

Judges:

• Brian Sewell, John Sutherland and Rosie Boycott^[5]

Press coverage

The award has been covered by the BBC,^[6] The Guardian,^[7] Huffington Post,^[8] The Daily Telegraph,^[9] Los Angeles Times, New Statesman, The Paris Review, Salon.com, The Scotsman, Time, The Washington Post, and The Week.