Amelia Sophie Gentleman, (born 1972) is a British journalist. She is a reporter for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and won the

Paul Foot Award The Paul Foot Award is an award given for investigative or campaigning journalism, set up by ''The Guardian'' and ''Private Eye'' in memory of the journalist Paul Foot, who died in 2004. The award, from 2005 to 2014, was for material published in ...

for reporting the Windrush scandal.

Early life and education

Born in London in 1972, Gentleman is the daughter of the artist

David Gentleman David William Gentleman (born 11 March 1930) is an English artist. He studied art and painting at the Royal College of Art under Edward Bawden and John Nash. He has worked in watercolour, lithography and wood engraving, at scales ranging from ...

and his second wife Susan Evans, daughter of George Ewart Evans. Gentleman was educated at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

, an independent day school, before studying Russian and History at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

Career

Earlier in her career, Gentleman was the New Delhi correspondent for the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

'' and the Paris and Moscow correspondent for ''

''. Since 2009, she has been in London, writing features for ''The Guardian'', mainly looking at the impact of government policy. For six months, Gentleman worked for ''The Guardian'' on the story of the Windrush scandal, the deportation of people originally from British colonies in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, or elsewhere in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

, who legally had a right of residence in the UK. According to Sara El-Harrak, writing for the

openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...

website, the issue had previously been neglected by the British media. The scandal broke in April 2018 and within weeks led to the resignation of the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Home Secretary,

Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fi ...

. Gentleman won the 2018

for her work on the Windrush story. She was also named as the

Political Studies Association The Political Studies Association (PSA) is a learned society in the United Kingdom which exists to develop and promote the study of politics. It is the leading association in its field in the United Kingdom, with an international membership includi ...

's journalist of the year for 2018, with

Carole Cadwalladr Carole Jane Cadwalladr (; born 1969) is a British author, investigative journalist and features writer. She is a features writer for ''The Observer'' and formerly worked at ''The Daily Telegraph''. Cadwalladr rose to international prominence in ...

, and as journalist of the year in the British Journalism Awards, 2018.

Personal life

Gentleman met

Jo Johnson Joseph Edmund Johnson, Baron Johnson of Marylebone, (born 23 December 1971) is a British politician who was Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation from July to September 2019, as well as previously from 2015 to 2 ...

, former MP for

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

while at Oxford University in 1991. They married in 2005 and live in Camden. The couple have two children.

Awards

* 2007 Amnesty International Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards * 2007 Ramnath Goenka Prize for Best Foreign Correspondent * 2010 Press Awards Feature Writer of the Year * 2012

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

Winner for Journalism * 2017 Press Awards Specialist Journalist of the Year * 2018 **

Journalist of the Year (joint award with

) ** Journalist of the Year, British Journalism Awards * 2019 ** The Cudlipp award for Windrush investigation ** The Amnesty impact award for Windrush investigation ** Print journalist of the year, London press club ** Sue Lloyd Roberts media award, in association with UNHCR and Migrants Organise ** Best campaigning/investigative journalism, Drum online media awards

Books

* ''The Windrush Betrayal, Exposing the Hostile Environment'', Guardian Faber, longlisted for the

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

2019

References

External links

''Guardian'' columns by Amelia Gentleman
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentleman, Amelia 1972 births Living people Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford British anti-poverty advocates British feminists British political journalists The Guardian journalists Spouses of British politicians Spouses of life peers English people of Scottish descent English people of Welsh descent