Judges
Terri White

Terri White is a journalist, author and screenwriter based in the northwest. Her book, Coming Undone: A Memoir was published by Canongate in 2020 and she is now developing it for television – as writer and Exec Producer – with Netflix and Bad Wolf, the production company behind His Dark Materials and I Hate Suzie. She is a columnist for The Sunday Times and a journalist specialising in class, society, VAWG and culture for titles including New Statesman, The Observer, British Vogue, The Guardian and The Big Issue. Prior to this, Terri worked in publishing for two decades, editing magazines in the UK and US including EMPIRE and Time Out New York. She was named Editor of the Year three times by the British Society of Magazine Editors; one of the 150 Female Leaders redefining the creative industries and a Folio Top Woman in US Media. She received the BSME’s lifetime achievement award, the Mark Boxer Award, in 2022 and was made a Fellow of the RSA (The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), in recognition of her work in journalism. She is currently working on a short film, her second non-fiction book and her first novel.
As a passionate fan of Gordon Burn’s work, it’s utterly wild that I’ll have the honour of chairing the prize. Much like Burn’s work was without peer, the Gordon Burn Prize is unlike any other literary prize in the world, recognising work that is relentlessly radical, genre-busting, blazing and bold. I can’t wait to join the celebration of literature that treads the same pioneering path.
Past Judges
2022
DENISE MINA
JONATHAN LIEW
STUART MACONIE
HEATHER PHILLIPSON
CHITRA RAMASWAMY
2021
DENISE MINA
DEREK OWUSU
IRENOSEN OKOJIE
SIAN CAIN
2020
ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU
RACHEL HOWARD
SALI HUGHES
RICHARD T KELLY
2019
AA DHAND
MIRANDA SAWYER
RACHEL UNTHANK
GARY HUME
2018
ALEX CLARK
ANDREW WEATHERALL
GILLIAN WEARING
KEI MILLER
2017
COSEY FANNI TUTTI
PETINA GAPPAH
ALLAN JENKINS
IAN SANSOM
2016
JENN ASHWORTH
WILLIAM BOYD
RACHEL COOKE
HARLAND MILLER
2015
MAXINE PEAKE
RODDY DOYLE
DOUG JOHNSTONE
GAVIN TURK
SUZANNE MOORE
2014
JOHN BURNSIDE
JULIAN BARRATT
SARAH LUCAS
BEN MYERS
2013
DAVID PEACE
DEBORAH ORR
MARK LAWSON