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2003 AAAS SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARDSA multimedia journal of an expedition to Antarctica, a broadcast from Hong Kong at the height of the SARS health crisis, a program that brings gravity waves to life, and feature coverage illustrating how the process of scientific research can get derailed by politics are among the winning entries in the 2003 AAAS Science Journalism Awards. The AAAS Science Journalism Awards program, established in 1945, recognizes outstanding reporting for a general audience and honors individuals (rather than institutions, publishers, or employers) for their coverage of the sciences, engineering, and mathematics. The Whitaker Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization supporting biomedical research and education, has sponsored the AAAS Science Journalism Awards since 1995. The 2003 AAAS Science Journalism Award recipients will each receive a $2,500 cash award and plaque, presented at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle, in February 2004. The winners are: Newspapers with a circulation of more than 100,000 Dan Fagin of Newsday was honored for three articles: “What Went Wrong?” (July 29, 2003), “In Frustration” (July 29, 2003), and “Still Searching” (July 30, 2003). Fagin used science to convey how the environment impacts health. According to the judges, Fagin articulated legitimate reasons for finding conflicting results in studies that often leave the public confused. The three articles deftly show how the process of scientific research can get derailed by politics. Newspapers with a circulation of less than 100,000 Nadia White of Casper Star-Tribune, received an award for an article titled, “Kazakhstan in a Fight Against Brucellocis” (March 16, 2003). White traveled to Kazakhstan and intuitively linked the brucellosis infecting that country with the threat of outbreaks in bison and elk plaguing the state of Wyoming. The stories draw parallels from the challenges that face this former republic of the Soviet Union and ranches in the United States. Magazines David Ewing Duncan of Wired earned the AAAS Science Journalism Award for magazine entries with his story on the world’s first full-body gene scan, titled “100% Genetically Analyzed” (November 2002). Duncan’s piece opens in the waiting room of a biotech startup in San Diego while a team of geneticists test his DNA for hundreds of diseases. Duncan crystallized the notion that horrible things happen to people and science doesn’t always provide an answer. He provides a glimpse of the interaction between science and society by bringing the science to the people with his writing. Television Renata Simone of WGBH/Frontline/World won the television award from AAAS for her piece titled “Chasing the Virus” (June 12, 2003), which investigated the SARS health crisis in Hong Kong. “I try to make science accessible to the general audience by interweaving it with stories of people’s experiences,” Simone said. Traveling to Hong Kong, Simone deftly weaves the science into the broader story of how the epidemic affects the community. She portrayed the scientist as a person, as a hero out to try and save the world. The program takes the viewer on location, lending a sense of immediacy to the program (and) clearly portrays the scientific process. Radio David Kestenbaum of National Public Radio (NPR) received the AAAS Science Journalism Award for a program called “Experiment Attempts to Detect Gravity Waves” (Sept. 16, 2002). The segment used radio to its full advantage, making the science entertaining and understandable. The LIGO project was a difficult subject to communicate over radio, especially because it is a visual topic. Kestenbaum narrated a lively trip to the LIGO project, explaining the science of gravity waves and making a difficult topic palatable. Online Daniel Grossman of WBUR earned the AAAS prize for online entries, with a series titled “The Antarctic Journal” (Jan. 14, 2003—March 14, 2003). Grossman filed stories and answered readers’ questions from Antarctica. The site is an overwhelming initiative with a user-friendly design that encourages interaction with the viewing public. The topographical maps, the time-lapse video, the photos—the multimedia components all compliment Grossman’s story and provide a strong illustration of what scientists do. # (Source: AAAS news release) |
