Journalist Fellowship Announced

Author: FPF

Date: 01/03/2016

Friends Provident Foundation announces David Pilling, Africa Editor of the Financial Times, as the winner of the first 2016 Friends Provident Foundation Journalist Fellowship.

 

David is using the Fellowship to undertake research and interviews for a book taking a critical look at What is so gross about GDP?.

 

Joycelin Dawes, trustee of the Friends Provident Foundation, who chaired the judging panel, said:

“We are delighted to announce that David Pilling is the winner of our first journalist fellowship. He has a distinguished track record in journalism and we believe that his book will be a compelling read for a very wide audience. It perfectly meets the aims of the fellowship; to get the message across to the general public about how we can create more resilient economic systems in the 21st century that incorporates values of social justice and sustainability. The winner was chosen from a competitive field of more than 20 applicants. We were delighted by the high calibre of entries from filmmakers, journalists, writers and activists.”

Joycelin Dawes, trustee of the Friends Provident Foundation

The year-long Fellowship will enable the winner to produce a piece of work that will communicate alternative economic ideas in an easily accessible and engaging way to kick-start a popular debate among the public and influence policy makers. The Fellowship was awarded by a panel of Friends Provident Foundation trustees with support from an economist and a journalist. The Foundation will provide financial and editorial support to the winner during 2016 and help to disseminate the final work to a wide audience.

 

David Pilling is the new Africa editor at the FT, following seven years as the FT’s Asia editor and stints as an FT correspondent in Japan, Argentina and Chile. He is also the author of the well-received Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival, published by Penguin in January 2014.

 

His Friends Provident Foundation Journalist Fellowship project is a book on the subject of GDP; examining its severe shortcomings as a measurement of productive activity. It will be written in a provocative, entertaining and easily understandable style and will suggest how we can better measure our lives.