The Science Journalists Association of Australia is proud to announce the winners of the first round of 2025 SJAA Grants.
This year’s program features three winners across three categories, each receiving up to $2,000 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.
Freelance science journalist Richard Haridy has been awarded a travel grant to support the creation of a non-fiction book exploring the world of psychedelic medicine. He receives $1,989 to cover costs associated with first-hand, on-the-ground reporting. The book is commissioned and tentatively scheduled to be released in 2026. We can’t wait to read it!
Suzannah Lyons has been awarded a professional development grant to develop her data literacy skills at The Lede Program, a 10-week intensive course with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. The SJAA has awarded Lyons with a $2,000 grant, partly supporting Lyons’ tuition fees. Recently, Lyons was a senior commissioning editor at 360info and we look forward to seeing how she utilises data journalism skills going forward.
We also awarded one student/early-career grant. The judges note this was a particularly competitive field, with the highest number of entries, and a broad range of topics and ideas.
The grant was awarded to Theoné van der Merwe, for an intriguing and timely pitch about seismic blasting for prospecting and a growing movement of citizen scientists and activists working on a moratorium. For this project, van der Merwe has been awarded $2,000 to facilitate interviews with key talent, purchasing of equipment and accommodation. We’re hopeful to see this one in print!
We did not award an independent reporting grant or a discretionary grant during this round.
The SJAA Grants Program is now in its fifth year and has awarded almost $30,000 in funding to support international travel, in-depth science feature writing and professional development programs. The program has been supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas and SJAA’s Champions of Science Journalism: Swinburne University, the ANU Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and STEM Matters.
We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to the judging committee and we’d encourage those who missed out on this year’s grant funding to apply again in the future. We expect to open a second grant funding round in 2025.
If you’d like to support the SJAA and this initiative, we’d love to hear from you! External support would help supercharge this program and provide opportunities to Australia’s vibrant science journalism ecosystem. Contact our executive team at contact@sjaa.org.au about how we might partner together.