Political Awards: and the winner is...

Last Modified: 23 Jan 2008
By: Channel 4 News

The Countryside Alliance has been named the winner of the Channel 4 News award for the Most Inspiring Political Figure of the Last Decade.

The votes are in and the results counted. Thousands of you took part by phone and e-mail to vote for the Channel 4 News Political Award for most inspiring political figure or figures of the past decade. And from the shortlist - the results, in reverse order:

In sixth place - Iain Paisley and Martin McGuiness - the two men who now run Northern Ireland.

Just ahead at number five is the London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Prime minister for ten years - but Tony Blair only came fourth in our vote.

While in third place - Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond.

But ahead of the rest was a straight fight between supporters of two causes

And in second place : everyone who marched to protest against the Iraq war.

But the winner - voted the most inspiring political figure of the decade - was The Countryside Alliance - for its campaigns against the fox hunting ban and its defence of rural life.

The award - voted for by Channel 4 News viewers - will be announced by Jon Snow during the annual Channel 4 Political Awards ceremony which takes place this evening and is now in its 10th year.

Last year Channel 4 News viewers voted peace campaigner Brian Haw as winner of The Most Inspiring Political Figure award.

Other awards

Politicians' Politician

William Hague (winner)
Harriet Harman
Ian Paisley
Jack Straw

Opposition Politician

George Osborne (winner)
Nick Clegg
Alex Salmond

Campaigning Politician

Jon Cruddas (winner)
Evan Harris
Stephen O'Brien
Anne Snelgrove

Peer of the Year

Baroness Anelay of St Johns (winner)
Lord Drayson
Lord Triesman
The Archbishop of York

Hansard Society Democracy

Operation Black Vote's Welsh Assembly Mentoring Scheme (winner)
Women's Parliamentary Radio
Zoop, Zoop, Hackney! Who Aksed U?

Political Book of the Year

The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell (winner)
The Strange Death of David Kelly by Norman Baker
More Time for Politics: Diaries 2001-2007 by Tony Benn
The Oona King Diaries: House Music by Oona King
The Triumph of the Political Class by Peter Oborne
John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves
Blair Unbound by Anthony Seldon, Peter Snowdon and Daniel Collings

Politics in the Media

The Thick of It (winner)
Private Eye
Eddie Mair
The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair