Big Brother Awards (United Kingdom)

The Big Brother Awards (United Kingdom) are an annual awards ceremony that highlights organizations and individuals deemed to be the most egregious violators of privacy in the UK. Named after the omnipresent surveillance figure in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the awards aim to raise awareness of privacy issues and promote greater protection of personal data.

The awards are organized by Privacy International, a non-governmental organization that campaigns for the right to privacy worldwide. Nominations are solicited from the public, and a panel of judges, often composed of privacy experts, journalists, and academics, selects the winners in various categories.

Categories typically reflect the different types of privacy violations being recognized, and have included areas such as government surveillance, corporate data collection, and technological threats to privacy. Awards are given out in both "worst" and sometimes "best" categories, with the latter recognizing positive contributions to privacy protection.

The awards ceremony is often a public event that seeks to be both informative and engaging, using satire and humor to draw attention to serious issues. The Big Brother Awards are intended to serve as a form of public accountability, encouraging organizations to adopt more privacy-respecting practices and prompting public discussion about the importance of data protection. The awards have been presented annually since 1998.