Judging panel

Richard O'Brien is a founding partner of Outsights, a leading strategic consultancy working with the public sector, private business and NGOs, most recently developing scenarios for the world's poorest.

He spent 21 years in international banking, with Rothschilds and American Express Bank - where he was Chief Economist and Executive Director. He is the author of Global Financial Integration: The End of Geography and founded The Amex Bank Review Awards and has chaired the jury for the Economist/Shell Writing prize since its inception. Richard serves on numerous public and private sector governing councils and advisory boards.

Paul Gibbs joined BBC World News as Head of Programmes in September 2008. Paul's responsibilities include shaping and building the overall editorial direction and impact of BBC World News' programming on all platforms to ensure that content meets the channel's aim of being a showcase for the best of BBC journalism. Previous to this role, Paul was launch Director of Programmes for Al Jazeera International, where he was key to the channel's concept and strategy, as well as constructing its factual programming slate which included key hires Sir David Frost and Rageh Omaar. Paul also worked for many years at the BBC in current affairs, business and consumer programming and launched such successes as 'Business Breakfast' and 'Working Lunch'.

Award-winning author Christopher Dickey, whose most recent book Securing the City was published in February 2009, is the Paris Bureau Chief and Middle East Regional Editor for Newsweek Magazine. He reports on European politics, economy, society and new technologies, as well as developing stories throughout North Africa, the Near East and the Persian Gulf. Previously he worked for The Washington Post as Cairo Bureau Chief and Central America Bureau Chief. Chris's Shadowland column, about counter-terrorism, espionage and the Middle East, appears weekly on Newsweek.com. He also writes regularly for Newsweek's Daily Beast.

Chris's books include With the Contras: a Reporter in the Wilds of Nicaragua (Simon & Schuster, 1986); Expats: Travel from Tripoli to Tehran (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990); Innocent Blood: A Novel (Simon & Schuster, 1997), and Summer of Deliverance: A Memoir of Father and Son (Simon & Schuster, 1998). His most recent novel, The Sleeper, was published by Simon & Schuster in September 2004. The New York Times called it "a first-rate thriller."

He has also written for Foreign Affairs, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Wired, Rolling Stone, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The New Republic, among other publications. He is a frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC and National Public Radio, as well as other television and radio networks.

Chris is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he was formerly an Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow; of the Overseas Press Club of America; and of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.

Karen Westley is an American who grew up in Kenya. She has a BS in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MSc from Yale University in Tropical Ecology. She spent six years working for a large international humanitarian organization: CARE International, in West Africa and globally. She carried out poverty assessments and designed humanitarian response and poverty alleviation programmes in over a dozen counties. She joined the Shell Foundation in 2000, as part of the start up team, designing and implementing the Foundation's strategy and managing energy and poverty programmes. She joined Shell International in 2005. She has set up a set of NGO partnerships to complement work/skills in the business with skills and perspectives from outside organisations.

Maxwell Gomera is Deputy Director for the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre based in Cambridge. A natural resource economist by training, Maxwell brings over 15 years of experience in biodiversity/wildlife management and socio-economic development. His past roles include Business Development Manager for SAFIRE, working with rural communities in development of natural resources based enterprises. He successfully managed IUCN's Southern Africa Regional Communication Team and was Project Manager for their Program for Improved Transboundary Natural Resources Management. Max was co-Chair of an International Working Group that produced the Mining and Metals Supplement to the Global Reporting Initiative. Recently he spent four years as Executive Assistant to the United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program. He has a thorough understanding of agricultural and resource economics and community based natural resources management.

Dr Camilla Toulmin is Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), having formerly run IIED's Drylands Programme from 1987-2002. An economist by training, her work has focused on social, economic, and environmental development in dryland Africa. This has combined field research, policy analysis, capacity building and advocacy. It has involved engaging with people at many different levels from farmers and researchers, to national governments, NGOs, donor agencies and international bodies. As Director of IIED since February 2004, Camilla has focused on developing the institute's strategy, encouraging greater cohesion between the diverse areas of IIED's work, and strengthening communication. She is trustee of WWF (UK), the Royal African Society, ICARDA, Lead International and a member of the Franco-British Council.

Julia Marton-Lefèvre is Director General of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) the world's largest conservation/environment membership organization which brings together states, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, scientists and experts in a unique worldwide partnership. IUCN's mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Prior to this, Julia was Rector of the University for Peace (UPEACE), a graduate-level international university, mandated by the United Nations, providing education, training and research on issues related to peace and conflict. Julia is a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), an advisory body to the Chinese Government, UPEACE, LEAD International, the Bibliotheca Alexandria, the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Oxford University's James Martin 21st Century School.

Sergio Jellinek is External Affairs Manager for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region of the World Bank since July 2007. In his position he oversees the work of communications and public information officers around the region and in Washington. Previously, he worked as Communications Advisor for Sustainable Development managing communications on global issues such as climate change. He is a founder of COM+, Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development, a partnership of 15 global organizations and a member of its Steering Committee. He has 20+ years of experience in managing strategic communications, media and global issues, including constituency relations with legislators, private sector and civil society. He provided advisory services to international organizations such as IFAD, UNHCR, IADB, and ALADI. He has also worked as the spokesperson for the Organization of American States (OAS), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay and the Mercosur Secretariat. As a journalist he worked for CNN, NBC, and international wire services.

Sam Pickens joined the Aga Khan Development Network in 2001 after a career that encompassed publishing in New York, books and journalism in Europe, communications at a leading mobile phone maker and two years at the United Nations Environment Programme. He grew up in south India on the grounds of rural leprosy and tuberculosis hospitals - the workplace of his father, a surgeon, and his mother, a nurse. He is the author of Quork Walker, a play about the first court cases which led to the abolition of slavery in the American state of Massachusetts in the early 1780s. He is also the author of Maroc: Les Cités Impériales and Le Sud marocain, published by ACR Edition, Paris, and has published short stories and articles in European and American magazines. He is currently Deputy-Director for Communications for the Aga Khan Development Network, a group of development agencies that works to improve the quality of life for the poor in Africa and Asia.