(N.B: These are awards offered by other organisations and groups, independent of SJAA.)
Australian Awards
Run by the Australasian Medical Writers’ Association, this award is intended to encourage AMWA members into full-time medical writing. Applications close on 31 March 2021 and the prize includes travel and accommodation for the annual AMWA conference, and advice and assistance from experienced medical writers.
The Australian Museum Eureka Awards honour Australian journalists and writers or teams of journalists and writers “whose work is assessed as having most effectively communicated scientific or technological issues to the public.” These awards are open to Australian citizens or residents. Entries typically close in early May and the awards ceremony happens in September.
Established by UNSW Press – publisher of the Best Australian Science Writing anthology – this is an annual prize for the best short non-fiction piece on science written for a general audience. Work must be published between April 1 of the previous year and March 31 of the current year. Entries close on March 31 each year. The first prize is $7000 and two runners-up receive $1500. All shortlisted entries will be published in the Anthology.
The Crawford Fund is offering a food security journalism award to enable an Australian print, broadcast or online journalist to “undertake a ‘seeing is believing’ visit to agriculture for development projects in the field, and interact with students, researchers, and local farmers as passionate as those we have heard from today, and to share their stories with the Australian public.”
The Melbourne Press Club’s annual Quill Awards for Journalistic Excellence now include a category for science, medicine and health reporting. Entries for the 2022 awards will open at the start of the year, and close around early February.
The Australian Skeptics have launched The Barry Williams Award for Skeptical Journalism, named after the late Barry Williams, past president of the Australian Skeptics. The award recognises “the best piece of journalism (in any medium) that takes a critical and skeptical approach to a topic that falls within our remit, which is the scientific investigation of pseudoscience and the paranormal”. There is a prize of AU$2000 for a print, radio or TV piece, and the entry window closes 1 October.
This new award recognises an exceptional contribution to the public’s understanding of science and/or environmental issues by celebrating reporting that educates and engages audiences, and illuminates complex issues. The award acknowledges journalists covering advances, challenges and concerns in fields such as medicine, science, technology, innovation, climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and pollution. Entries typically open in March and close in April. Finalists are announced in May.
International Awards
These awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science honour reporting on the sciences, mathematics and engineering by professional journalists from around the world. Categories including newspapers, magazines, television, audio, online and children’s science news. Entries are judged on “scientific accuracy, initiative, originality, clarity of interpretation, and value in fostering a better public understanding of science and its impact.” The award is open to entries published between 16 July the previous year and 15 July the current year, and the submission window for the 2020 awards closed on 1 August 2020.
In honour of cancer scientist, mentor and pioneer, the June L. Biedler Prize for Cancer Journalism – from the American Association for Cancer Research – recognises “outstanding journalistic coverage that enhances the public’s understanding of cancer, cancer research, or cancer policy”. The prize is open to print, online, television or radio works for a lay audience, published between December and November of the previous year.
The American Geophysical Union has three journalism awards: the David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism for news writing, the Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism for feature writing, and the Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. Nominations typically open between January and March every year.
The ABSW runs these annual awards with a huge range of categories including awards for investigative journalism, writing for a specialist audience, podcasting, editing and many more. The entry window opens around January each year.
Run by the Association of Health Care Journalists, these awards honour “the best health reporting in print, broadcast and online media” from this calendar year. Categories include investigative, consumer, health policy, public health and trade. First prize is US$500, and entries typically open between January and March.
This joint award series from Schmidt Futures and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine honours “science journalists and research scientists who have developed creative, original work that addresses issues and advances in science, engineering, and/or medicine for the general public.” It is open internationally, and the entry window typically closes in April each year.
This award from the US-based Council for the Advancement of Science Writing is “intended to encourage young science writers by recognizing outstanding reporting and writing in any field of science.” Applicants must aged under 30 years, and the prize includes US$1000. The award is open to international journalists but preferably ones that are writing in international or US publications — expenses only cover domestic trips to the awards announcement. The entry window closes at the end of June each year.
Awarded by the Columbia Journalism School in New York, in memory of John B. Oakes – former environmental journalist at the New York Times – this annual prize recognises “news reporting that makes an exceptional contribution to the public’s understanding of environmental issues”. It’s open to any article published in the United States, and entries for the 2021 award are due on April 22.
This award from PEN America recognises “writing that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of the physical or biological sciences and communicates complex scientific concepts to a lay audience”. The winner receives a cash prize of US$10,000, and the 2021 submission window will be open from June 1 – August 1. Submissions must come from publishers or literary agents; authors may not submit their book directly.
These awards, run by the US-based National Association of Science Writers, recognise “investigative or interpretive reporting about the sciences and their impact on society”. Submissions typically open late in the year and close February 1. There are seven categories, including books, short, medium or long science reporting, opinion, and series, and each has a cash prize of US$2000.
This award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology honours “a member of the media for excellence in coverage of the personality and social psychology field.” The award can go to a particular piece of coverage or for a distinguished record of reporting. The prize is a US$500 honorarium, and the submission window is from March 15 to June 1.
Run by the US-based Society of Environmental Journalists, these awards honour the best environmental journalism across print, TV, radio and online, and for beat reporting, in-depth reporting and books, from around the world. The newly-introduced (2018) Nina Mason Pulliam Award for the ‘best of the best’ environmental reporting will award US $10,000 to one entry selected from the first-place winners of the other awards. Deadline for entry is 1 April, 2021 and entries are open to international journalists.