The AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards honour “professional journalists for distinguished reporting on the sciences, engineering, and mathematics”. They’re open to journalists around the world, and categories include newspapers, magazines, television, audio, video, online and children’s science news. Entries for the 2018 awards are due by 1 August; details are here.
Katia Moskvitch, editor at Wired UK, has tweeted a call for freelance science writers:
“Hello, science writers! @WiredUK is looking for awesome freelance science writers. If you know how to spot cool stories no one else has – on Arxiv etc – & can write quirky physics, space, comp sci, biology stories – get in touch! katie(at)wired(dot)co(dot)uk Pls RT, thnx! :-)”
(and thanks to Sonia Weiser and her awesome Opportunities of the Week email newsletter for bringing this to my attention)
Science writers aren’t stenographers; an important part of their job in reporting science is also to scrutinise it. To advance that, US science journalist Liza Gross has published The Science Writing Investigative Reporting Handbook: A Beginner’s Guide To Investigations, aided by a grant from the National Association of Science Writers.
I haven’t got to reading this yet, but as the third in a series of handbooks put out by the awesome bunch of science writers known collectively as SciLance, I have very high hopes for it. Their previous book The Science Writers’ Handbook is absolutely the best book on science writing and freelancing I have read, so I have no doubt this new publication will be of the same high quality.
Here’s what Gross has to say in her blog post on the book’s release: “I wanted to demystify investigative reporting for my fellow science writers and give them both the tools and confidence to launch their own investigations. I wanted to share the knowledge I’d picked up on the fly as a greenhorn, and later gleaned from workshops, tutorials, my own accumulated experience and sage advice from veteran investigators.”
You can buy the book via Amazon or Amazon Australia.
Written anything about global food security in the past year? The Crawford Fund’s Food Security Journalism Award recognises work that explores the theme of global food security, including food supply, production, R&D, trade, food loss and waste, biosecurity, training, and policy issues. The entry window closes on June 15, the winner receives a ‘seeing is believing’ visit to a country where they can experience and report on Australia’s work in international agricultural development.” Entries must have been published or broadcast between June 4, 2017-2018. More details available here.
Written or reported anything about food, agriculture, hunger, obesity, food waste or starvation in the last year? Entries to the Food Sustainability Media Awards, from the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Barilla, close this Thursday 31 May, with EU10,000 up for grabs in prizes. The awards honour reporting on issues such as obesity, hunger, agriculture, food waste and starvation, in published or unpublished written articles, multimedia or photography. More details here.
BuzzFeed News is offering a paid, 12-week fellowship in science journalism at its Sydney office. The fellowship, which was established in partnership with the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and the Australian Science Media Centre, is based with the head of news and social news reporting in Australia but will also work with BuzzFeed’s international science desk.
They’re looking for a candidate with experience in science news, strong writing skills, an established social media presence and a “genuine love for and excitement about science and the internet.”
More details are here. No closing date advertised.
Arizone State University offers a Fellowship in Transdisciplinary Science, to support a journalist to be “on the frontlines of research to see how scientists grapple with the problems of today’s world and forge new directions in science”. The one-month fellowship provides a stipend of US$8000, and is aimed at mid-career science journalists with at least seven years of experience in reporting on the selected topic. Applications for the 2018 round are due May 15, 2018. More details here.
The Australian Antarctic Division’s Media Program offers journalists the chance to visit Antarctica and Macquarie Island to report on the AAD’s activities. The program offers either a one-week trip to Antarctica or two weeks on Macquarie Island during summer. Applicants must have clearly defined story ideas or a targeted proposal, and will work with the AAD media team to refine their project. Applications for the 2018/2019 program are due by 18 May 2018. Details are available here.
The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics – also known as the Albert Einstein Institute – is inviting experienced science journalists to apply for residencies at the Potsdam, Germany location. The residencies are open to journalists in any medium, freelance or in-house, and go for up to two months. “The goal is to strengthen the communication between journalists and scientists and to offer journalists the opportunity to learn more about the institute’s research areas.” The Institute will provide office space, a 3,500 Euro/month stipend, and will assist with travel costs if necessary. More details can be found here, applications are due June 11, 2018.
The entry window for CancerWorld magazine’s annual journalism award closes soon (May 1), so any journalists who have done in-depth or investigative pieces on cancer are encouraged to get their entries in soon.
The categories for the award are patient and carer experience; research, science and treatment; policy, services and affordability; and prevention. The award is open to print, online, radio, video and television journalists, and seeks entries “that move beyond documenting experience, science, policy and practice. We want to find work that challenges, addresses urgent questions, increases awareness and prompts change. We are particularly looking for serious investigative journalism.”
More information is available here.