London: Mint columnist Amit Verma, who also runs a blog www.indiauncut.com, has been chosen as a finalist for the sixth annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism, on the basis of his column appearing in Mint. The prize — named in honour of the great 19th century French philosopher and essayist Frédéric Bastiat — celebrates writers whose work cleverly and wittily promotes the institutions of the free society.
Six finalists have been chosen for the award from 280 submissions received from more than 60 countries. Apart from Varma, the others in the reckoning for the $10,000 award are Clive Crook of The Atlantic Monthly, US; Johan Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, US; A. Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch, US; Dominic Lawson, The Independent, UK and Patrick McIlheran of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, US.
The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges comprising two former winners Brian Carney of The Wall Street Journal and Amity Shales (Bloomberg columnist), economists Bibek Debroy and Wolfgang Kasper, and Douglas Ginsburg, the chief judge of the DC court of appeals.
The winner will be announced on 24 October, 2007.