Each year BJPIR showcases and rewards the best article published by the Journal. In an initial selection, we identify the three full-length BJPIR articles having received the most hits on the synergy web-site in a twelve month period running from January to January. In a second step, the articles thus chosen are ranked by a panel drawn from the editorial team. The winning article is directly accessible through Blackwells synergy website and the author receives a £50 Blackwells book-token.

The panel are asked to evaluate the articles on three criteria: contribution to the advancement or understanding of British political science; topicality; originality; accessibility; each out of a possible 10 points. The top score out 40 wins.

The BJPIR Prize for the best article published in the journal in 2006 is awarded to Professor Andrew Gamble (University of Cambridge) for his paper entitled 'The European Disunion'. The paper was included in a Special Issue of the journal edited by Daniel Wincott and Ben Rosamond on the theme of Britain in Europe. Professor Gamble's article was the most frequently downloaded BJPIR paper from 2006 on Blackwell's Synergy site. This was a highly readable paper which made sense of the state of the European Union after the popular rejection of the new constitution and offered some interesting and provocative indicators of Europe's possible (and impossible) futures. It was the unanimous choice of the three judges (BJPIR 8-1, 2006).