Author: SJAA

The Science Journalists Association of Australia aims to support and foster the professional interests of practising and aspiring science journalists in Australia, and to champion and advocate for independence and excellence in science journalism.

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Fellowships Grants

Applications open for Copyright Agency Cultural Fund grants

Applications are now open for the Copyright Agency Limited Cultural Fund’s annual grants for Australian writers, publishers and artists.

The IGNITE grants provide up to $5000 to an individual to enable them to “to acquire knowledge, to undertake mentorships, internships, residencies, leadership opportunities, and strategic promotional opportunities.” In 2017, I was fortunate enough to receive one of these grants, which supported me to attend the World Federation of Science Journalists conference in San Francisco (which you can read about here), so I would strongly encourage science writers to consider applying. Applications close 20 April 2018.

The CREATE grants, which offer $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000, are aimed at mid-career or established writers, and are intended to encourage the creation or development of new work. Applications close 18 June 2018.

The Cultural Fund also offers fellowships for authors – including one for non-fiction writing – to the tune of $80,000. Applications close 24 September 2018.

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Fellowships

Media fellowships in environmental law

The Vermont Law School’s Environmental Law Center is offering fellowships to full-time online, print and broadcast journalists (including freelance) who report on the environment to attend a two-week course at the facility in June/July this year.

The course enables attendees to “learn from experienced litigators who have won major cases and from policy experts in climate change, energy and other key legal areas. After class, you can meet for on- or off-the-record conversations with these thought-provoking experts.” The fellowships, which appear to be open to international candidates, include a US$1,250 stipend, free housing, free books, and a tuition waiver. Applications for the 2018 program close on March 5. Details are available here.

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Resources

Going digital: inside science journalism’s newest online outlets

The Open Notebook (which is a brilliant resource for science journalists, in case you haven’t already discovered it) has just featured a Q&A with the editors of some of the newer digital science journalism outlets, and online publications that include science coverage, namely Undark, Hakai, Buzzfeed, Axios and STAT.

It offers a fascinating glimpse into the funding models of this new world of online journalism, and there’s also some useful information there for freelances looking for new outlets to pitch to. Check out the article here.

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Fellowships

Marine Biological Laboratory Science Journalism fellowships now open

The Marine Biological Laboratory at the University of Chicago is inviting applications for its Science Journalism Program fellowships for science, health and environmental journalists.

The environmental hands-on research program involves a ten-day program of “field and laboratory science immersion at the MBL in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, a world center for marine, biomedical, and environmental science, and at an environmental field research site on Cape Cod.”

The biomedical hands-on research program offers “exposure to the fundamental techniques and concepts of cell and molecular biology that provide the basic elements underlying many approaches to modern-day biomedical research” at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Four individuals from each group will also be selected to spend four days at the University of Chicago and attend the Science Innovation Summit there. The fellowships cover travel, room and board, lab fees and all activities associated with the program. Applications close 1 March 2018, and details can be found here.

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Awards Fellowships

Entries for Kavli Prize journalism scholarships close January 15

The World Federation of Science Journalists is offering five international scholarships for journalists to attend the Kavli Prize week in Oslo (1-6 September, 2018). The Kavli Prize has been awarded every two years since 2008 in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience. The prize consists of 1 million US dollars in each field, and a gold medal presented by the King of Norway.

The winners of the journalism scholarships will get the opportunity to interview the laureates and have access to all the events, including the award ceremony and the banquet. The scholarships cover travel, registration fees and accommodation, with support from The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Entries close Monday 15 January, and application details are available here.

 

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Resources

World Conference of Science Journalists 2017 session videos available online

The recent World Conference of Science Journalists featured some stand-out presentations, and some of those are now available as online videos on the WCSJ2017 website.

These include Dr Jennifer Doudna’s illuminating talk about CRISPR, Dr Alberto Cairo’s brilliant presentation on data visualisation, and panels on pseudoscience in authoritarian regimes, fact checking, reporting on sexual harassment in science, and the human ethics of global crisis reporting.

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Anthology Awards

Call for entries – Best Australian Science Writing anthology

The entry window for New South Publishing’s 2018 Best Australian Science Writing anthology is now open, and this year’s editor John Pickrell is calling for news, features, essays, blog posts, book excerpts, scripts and poetry covering the length and breadth of science.

Published pieces must have appeared in print or online in 2017 or 2018 and authors must be Australian residents or Australian citizens living overseas. Pieces in press, but not yet published will also be considered. The closing date for submissions is 31 March 2018. Entries published between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 will also be eligible for the Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing, which offers a first prize of $7000 and two runner-up prizes of $1500 each

Entry details are available here.

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Awards

Entries open for British science writing awards

The Association of British Science Writers has invited entries for its annual Science Writers Awards for Britain and Ireland, which includes work by international journalists that has been published in Britain or Ireland. The awards “aim to reward excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics journalism and writing”. They include awards for features, news, investigative journalism, science blog, and student science journalism. Entries close 31 January 2016, a shortlist will be announced mid- to late-April. More details available on the award site.

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Fellowships

Applications open for marine and environmental reporting workshop for journalists

Applications are open for the University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting’s annual Science Immersion Workshop for journalists. The fellowships provide tuition, room, board and travel support to ten journalists, enabling them to experience “hands-on experience and expertise from leading scientists and policymakers who are working to project the impacts of climate change, identifying adaptation measures, and investigating the most effective ways to communicate these challenges.” This year’s workshop runs from June 10-15, 2018. Applications close February 12, 2018, details are here.

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Jobs

Science/technology reporter job at ABC

The ABC has just advertised for a science and technology reporter to join its specialist reporting team. It’s an 18 month-position, starting in February 2018, and will involve working across radio, TV and digital. Applications opened on December 20 and close on January 21, 2018. Check the job advertisement for all the details.