A hearty SM congrats to Amit Varma of India Uncut who, last night, won this year’s Bastiat Prize.

Pict courtesy of Ultrabrown; Rockstars get bra-throwing female fans; Real rockstars like Amit Varma get Manish Vij as an entourage for the evening.

The Bastiat Prize for Journalism was established by International Policy Network to encourage, recognise and reward writers around the world whose published works elucidate the institutions of the free society.

In the enduring spirit of the Prize’s namesake Frédéric Bastiat, the Prize is given to writers who employ eloquent and witty explanations of complex ideas, combined with a clear understanding of markets and their underlying institutions -property rights, the rule of law, freedom of contract, free speech and limited government. 2007 marks the sixth year of the Bastiat Prize.

Varma’s work has been featured on SM many times before. In addition, his articles have been carried in a number of publications including the Asian Wall Street Journal and, local Indian biz rag, Mint. A collection of his published work can be found here.

Interestingly, while focusing on “old journalism” Varma and at least one other contender for the prize - Jonah Goldberg of National Review’s Corner - are possibly more well known in the blogosphere than they are on dead trees. Varma even credits blogging as the first step on a long path towards press geekdom -

As I mentioned in my post about being nominated, it all began with India Uncut. The blog led to the column, and made me grow as a writer. And I wouldn’t have bothered if no one was reading me. So thank you—you are more a part of this than you realise!

Amit has a great entry in his blog describing the evening in detail and his take on his chances -

My default mode is cynical, and I had been convinced for a few days that I didn’t deserve to win. My three nominated pieces were Where’s the Freedom Party?, A Beast Called Government and The Devil’s Compassion. They were all written fairly early in my stint as columnist at Mint, when I was still getting a handle on tone and suchlike. The first of those piece was clumsily written, even if the content was close to my heart. The second was fairly basic for a sophisticated audience, even if it might have seemed radical to some readers in India. The third, I thought, worked well for me—it was satire, and Bastiat did satire, so that could help.

…The first hint I had that I might win was when the event photographer kept taking pictures of me, more so than of anyone else. “Damn,” I thought, “does this mean I’ll have to give a speech?”

…Then they announced the second prize. Clive Crook.

Two thoughts went through my mhind. One: “This means I’ve won!” Two: “Shit, shit, shit, I might have to speak!”

Congrats. Hope you had a well earned drink and keep up the good work. SM hearts you.

UPDATE: The press release announcing Varma’s prize is now up -

Varma was thrilled to receive the Prize, which came with US $10,000 and an engraved crystal candlestick, evocative of Frederic Bastiat’s satirical essay in which the candle makers of France petition the government to block out their competition: the sun. He said:

“Frederic Bastiat is one of my intellectual heroes and his ideas are terribly relevant to modern India. Therefore I’m honored to win the Bastiat Prize, especially given the caliber of the other five finalists in the competition.”