Coverage of 2019 Awards
Winners Announced
The Heart of the Hopi, by Aaron Levin
https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/heart-hopi
This expansive look at the role of corn in Hopi life, presented by Aaron Levin in “The Heart of the Hopi”, tracks the scientific, agricultural and cultural role of corn in the desert. This vivid picture of Hopi culture elevates the thousand-yeartradition of planting Hopi corn.
Sweet, Sweet Science by Eleanor Hutterer
https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/1663/2019-february/sweet-science.php
Eleanor Hutterer’s Sweet Sweet Science, about a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory, best known for its contribution to nuclear physics, and M&M Mars, the candy company, to study sugar crystallization. Hutterer’s entertaining juxtaposition of the two was the reason for winning this prize.
National Security Science Redesign
https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/national-security-science/2019-summer/index.php Brenda Fleming and her team created a visually dynamic summer 2019 edition of the magazine to help communicate a wide variety of complex scientific and technical topics. Each page of the magazine jumps out at readers with multiple visual techniques to draw their attention to key points. These techniques include pull-quotes to summarize messages from longer articles, visually appealing simple numbers and graphics to convey shorter messages, numerous photos of individual researchers and others to humanize the science, informative and often humorous graphics and information boxes, and creative spacing and schematics to allow for visual flow that keeps readers engaged.
https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/heart-hopi
This expansive look at the role of corn in Hopi life, presented by Aaron Levin in “The Heart of the Hopi”, tracks the scientific, agricultural and cultural role of corn in the desert. This vivid picture of Hopi culture elevates the thousand-yeartradition of planting Hopi corn.
Sweet, Sweet Science by Eleanor Hutterer
https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/1663/2019-february/sweet-science.php
Eleanor Hutterer’s Sweet Sweet Science, about a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory, best known for its contribution to nuclear physics, and M&M Mars, the candy company, to study sugar crystallization. Hutterer’s entertaining juxtaposition of the two was the reason for winning this prize.
National Security Science Redesign
https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/national-security-science/2019-summer/index.php Brenda Fleming and her team created a visually dynamic summer 2019 edition of the magazine to help communicate a wide variety of complex scientific and technical topics. Each page of the magazine jumps out at readers with multiple visual techniques to draw their attention to key points. These techniques include pull-quotes to summarize messages from longer articles, visually appealing simple numbers and graphics to convey shorter messages, numerous photos of individual researchers and others to humanize the science, informative and often humorous graphics and information boxes, and creative spacing and schematics to allow for visual flow that keeps readers engaged.
2019 Call for Submissions
SWSWA provides resources and networking opportunities for the vibrant community of science writers in this area. Reporters, editors, media relations representatives, graphic artists, museum docents, podcast hosts—the members of this organization powerfully contribute to the communication of cutting-edge science in a wide variety of media.
To acknowledge and support the outstanding members of our community, SWSWA is kicking off 2020 with a new roster of awards:
Science Short Writing (under 500 words)
Science Long Writing (over 500 words)
Multimedia Science Communication (podcast, video, etc.)
Visual Science Communication (static images: including cartoons, illustrations, etc.)
Each award will be adjudicated based on a familiar series of questions: Is the work appealing? Is the information clear or argument well-made? Is the piece pitched appropriately for the given audience? Is it accurate and well-contextualized? Is it timely? How impactful is it?
In short, we’re looking for exciting, powerful science writing that adds value to our community.
If you're writing about science in the Southwest or are a Southwest science writer, you are eligible to enter. We define the Southwest broadly, referring to Wikipedia's city-based definition. We also consider what areas (Southern California) are already served by science writing groups.
Submissions open January 15, and close at midnight on Feb 15. See award categories for specific submission requirements. Only active SWSWA members are eligible to submit awards, but joining the organization is simple, and can be done HERE. Full details on submission for each award category can be found HERE.
To acknowledge and support the outstanding members of our community, SWSWA is kicking off 2020 with a new roster of awards:
Science Short Writing (under 500 words)
Science Long Writing (over 500 words)
Multimedia Science Communication (podcast, video, etc.)
Visual Science Communication (static images: including cartoons, illustrations, etc.)
Each award will be adjudicated based on a familiar series of questions: Is the work appealing? Is the information clear or argument well-made? Is the piece pitched appropriately for the given audience? Is it accurate and well-contextualized? Is it timely? How impactful is it?
In short, we’re looking for exciting, powerful science writing that adds value to our community.
If you're writing about science in the Southwest or are a Southwest science writer, you are eligible to enter. We define the Southwest broadly, referring to Wikipedia's city-based definition. We also consider what areas (Southern California) are already served by science writing groups.
Submissions open January 15, and close at midnight on Feb 15. See award categories for specific submission requirements. Only active SWSWA members are eligible to submit awards, but joining the organization is simple, and can be done HERE. Full details on submission for each award category can be found HERE.