This year’s awards will be presented by Anna Ford, with a keynote speech from Jung Chang, bestselling author of Mao: The Untold Story and Wild Swans.

This year’s panel of judges will include: Mark Kermode, Conor Gearty, Dreda Say Mitchell and Ursula Owen OBE. Nominations are now open in the five categories below – we look forward to hearing from you all.

The Index / Hugo Young Journalism Award

The Bindmans’ Law and Campaigns Award

The Index Whistleblower Award

The Index Film Award

The Index Book Award

Please note that films or books need to have been released in the UK after January 2006, and that the deadline for nominations in these two categories is 26 January 2007. Please e-mail suggested nominations in any of the categories to at Index on Censorship.

Last year’s winners were: The Index / Hugo Young Journalism Award: Sihem Bensedrine, a prominent activist for press freedom in Tunisia; The Index Whistleblowing Award: Huang Jingao; The Index Film Award: <i>Turtles Can Fly, directed by Bahman Ghobadi; The T.R.Fyvel Book Award: Jean Hatzfeld for the books Into the Quick of Life. The Rwandan Genocide: The Survivors Speak and A Time for Machetes. The Rwandan Genocide: The Killers Speak; The Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award: Beatrice Mtetwa, a prominent human rights lawyer who works to defend and protect journalists in Zimbabwe.