The Science Journalists Association of Australia is proud to announce the winners of the 2023 SJAA Grants Program.
This year’s program features eight winners across four categories, each receiving up to $1000 in funding, with the opportunity for mentorship. The SJAA extends its congratulations to this year’s recipients and can’t wait to see the work produced.
Two travel grants were awarded to explore environmental issues. Freelance journalist Alessandra Bergamin will be investigating the environmental and cultural impact of Australian mining companies and Rachel Williamson will use her grant to produce in-depth stories on how climate change is impacting rural communities in South Australia.
This year’s student/early career grants were awarded to Amalyah Hart and Alysha Huxley. The former will use the funding to develop a longform story about insect cognition and consciousness, the latter will explore how biodiversity is threatened in the face of a warming planet.
Ivy Shih is the recipient of an independent reporting grant for her pitch on cochlear implants and why they can’t detect subtle shifts in tonal languages. Lydia Hales will also receive an independent reporting grant to explore the difficulties in diagnosing and treating body dysmorphic disorder.
A professional development grant was awarded to Lyndal Rowlands to help her undertake the UnionDocs Pod Pod residency program in the US. She hopes to produce a narrative podcast series on religious beliefs during her time in the US. The final professional development grant went to Manuela Callari, who made a strong pitch to upskill in data journalism, visualisation and storytelling. She will undertake a course to understand, interpret and present data – a much-desired skill in modern newsrooms.
The SJAA Grants Program is now in its third year and has awarded over $20,000 in funding to support international travel, in-depth science feature writing and professional development programs. The program is supported by SJAA’s Champions of Science Journalism: the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and STEM Matters.
We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to the judging committee, who took the time to provide feedback to all applicants and were impressed by the depth, clarity and quality of this year’s proposals. We’d also encourage those who missed out on this year’s grant funding to apply again in the future.
Get those pitches ready for SJAA’s 2024 Grants Program which we expect to open in April 2024.