✍️Science Writing News Roundup #14 (October 29, 2020)
Ten simple rules for writing scientific op-ed articles + Writing a science biography + What’s the “Front of Book?” + Job opportunities + Events
Communicating Science. A Global Perspective charts the emergence of modern science communication across the world. It has been downloaded 12,000 times in the four weeks since it was published. The book can be downloaded for free, and hard copies can be ordered for $150.
📚 Tips
Ten simple rules for writing scientific op-ed articles. Op-eds are opinion pieces typically written for newspapers or magazines and intended for a wide audience. The writing of these guidelines is inspired by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter groundswell, and the general poor state of world politics.
‘Prize light over heat’ and other essential advice for science writers: “If you’re trying to find a way into the science writing game, then reverse engineering Ed Yong’s pieces that strike a chord with you is a good place to start,” says Gavin Lamb.
Betsy Ladyzhets shared a recap of the session she led at ScienceWriters2020 on the intersections between data journalism and science writing. Its goal was to introduce science writers to the world of data and to show them that this world is not a far-off inaccessible realm!
If you're curious about the process of writing a science biography, Pratik Pawar interviewed Samanth Subramanian about his new book on J. B. S. Haldane, his research process, the challenges he encountered, and how he managed to turn them around to create a vivid narrative story!
What’s the “Front of Book?” In a new blog post, Anna Funk, Associate Editor at Discover Magazine, discusses the front section of a magazine: “You can’t just start throwing 3,000-word features at readers on page 1. You need to sort of ease people into things,” she says.
📜 Resources
Looking for inspiration or new sources for reporting on what the world can do to solve its biggest problems? Check out The Progress Network, a new tool for journalists!
Google releases new tools for journalists — and shares insider insight on what’s trending on the search platform. Pinpoint, a tool from Journalist Studio by Google, lets you analyze and explore collections of documents.
Lessons from fiction for science writers: In a session at the UK Conference of Science Journalists, three panelists discussed how fiction writing techniques can be applied to your journalism to make it clearer, more balanced, and more exciting. Nick Booth, one of the speakers, shared a list of resources that he thinks might be useful to science writers.
🚂 Opportunities
The Best American Science and Nature Writing is open to submissions from publishers, editors, readers, and writers!
Applications are now open for a series of webinar workshops on science communication for post-secondary students and faculty as well as scientists at Canadian institutions.
Got an idea for an innovative solutions journalism project and need some money for it? Apply for a 2021 LEDE Fellowship.
It’s time to apply for Poynter’s 2021 Leadership Academy for Women in Media. Here’s what you need to know. English-speaking women from journalism, media and technology organizations all over the world are encouraged to apply.
Creative Nonfiction is seeking submissions of new nonfiction work by older (60+) writers. They’re looking for personal essays/memoir, experimental work, science writing, profiles, historical nonfiction, lyric essays, and any kind of lively fact-based writing.
The 2020 Canadian Blood Services’ Lay Science Writing Competition has launched and is open for submissions until December 15, 2020. It’s open to research trainees in the broad Canadian Blood Services research network!
📹 Videos
Learn about SciLine, a program that connects scientists with journalists seeking expertise and context for their reporting about science, health, and the environment.
Designing digital content to support science journalism: A new interactive tool enables journalists without specialist science knowledge and training to write about science more effectively.
Science journalism: Going beyond the data. An event by the Media Impact Funders, recorded in December 2019, click here to read the description.
James Trefil is a physicist and best-selling author of over 50 books. In this interview, Kenna Castleberry asked him about his book "Why Science?" which discusses the need for scientific literacy.
Seattle’s UW Medicine Virology Lab Tour. This event was part of a public program, "COVID-19 Science and Coverage."
🗞️ News
More than 70 science and climate journalists challenge Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. “How can Judge Coney Barrett rule on pending issues of climate change liability, regulation, finance, mitigation, equity, justice, and accountability if she fails to accept even the underlying premise of global warming? The answer is that she cannot,” according to the journalists.
ABSW Awards 2020: winners announced. The winners from shortlisted submissions across 16 categories of science journalism were announced to an online audience of over 300 guests.
The Journalism Creators Program at CUNY teaches participants to launch their own news products, from wherever they are. Remote learning works better for the students because it gives them time to focus on building their products while honoring other commitments (jobs, families) in their lives.
The Medical Research Council recently revealed the winner of this year's Max Perutz Science Writing Award: Sarah Taylor from the University of Edinburgh! You can now read the 10 shortlisted articles as a digital booklet – ‘The Shortlist’.
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s San Diego Press Club 47th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards! (Search for “Science” to see the winners)
📅 Events
Johns Hopkins University MA in Science Writing Online Information Session (October 29, 2020)
Award-winning journalist Ed Yong to discuss covering the COVID-19 pandemic in Amanpour Lecture (October 29, 2020)
The Art of the Interview with Frank Sesno (DC Science Writers Association, October 29, 2020)
Kavli Conversations on Science Communication: Writing About Weird Biology for More than Just Laughs (October 29, 2020)
The Living at the Intersection Symposium (LIS) 2020 will examine the topic of “Truth and Evidence” at the intersection of STEM and the arts, humanities, and social sciences (October 30, 2020)
How to write better pitches (November 1, 2020)
Is science writing the solution? A panel discussion hosted by Professor Alice Roberts, followed by the announcement of the winner of the 2020 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize (November 3, 2020)
AAAS Mass Media Fellowship Panel. Join alumni of the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship for a panel on their experiences being a fellow as well as applying to the program. (November 5, 2020)
So you want to write a book (November 8, 2020)
State of Science Writing 2020: Has our profession prospered in 2020, or has it done badly like the broader economy? (November 10, 2020)
Seminars for Underrepresented Science Writers👉Writing a Science Book (November 4, 2020), 👉The Science Journalism Panel (November 10, 2020), 👉The Science Writer Panel (November 17, 2020)
Signals from the future: Emerging technologies in science journalism (November 4-5, 2020)
Belgian SciComm Network Meeting: Sessions include “Perspectives on science journalism in Belgium”, and “Science in the press: Lessons from COVID” (November 17, 2020)
Science in the Newsroom Global Summit 2020 (November 23-24, 2020)
📣 Career opportunities
Science Content Editor, Great Minds, Remote
Internships, Popular Science, Remote
Internships, The Scientist, Remote
Reporter, Pandemic Technology Project, MIT Technology Review
Science Writer, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Associate Editor, Eos, Washington, DC
Editorial Intern, Audubon, New York, NY
Staff Writer, Friends of Casco Bay, South Portland, ME
Science Writer/Editor/Storyteller, OK Play, Remote, US
Spring Writing Intern, Spectrum, New York, NY
Science Writer, BioStrata, Cambridge, UK
Digital Editor for NOVA, GBH Boston, Remote
More jobs 👉Science Writing News Roundup #13
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