✍️Science Writing News Roundup #172
How to deal with a difficult edit + Covering race and racism + How to cover conservation technology.
AAAS and Subaru announced the longlist for the 2024 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the Young Adult Science Book category. The Prize celebrates outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults and is meant to encourage the writing and publishing of high-quality science books for all ages. The longlists for the Children’s Science Picture Book, Middle Grades Science Book, and Hands-On Science Book categories were announced earlier in the week. Image: AAAS.
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🗺️Resources
How to Deal with a Difficult Edit. “Just as a smooth editing process can keep a writer coming back to an outlet again and again, a rocky one can turn even a dream assignment into a nightmare,” Giuliana Viglione writes. But “there are tactics that both editors and writers can employ to smooth potentially spiky situations before they erupt into something worse.”
Use this form to nominate stories for CASW Showcase, a website that highlights award-winning and exemplary science writing. CASW is adding new stories (published in 2020-2023) to the Showcase collection after a hiatus, and they want your suggestions of great pieces to include.
🌴Articles
Trauma in journalism and beyond: Insights from a plenary session at the National Association of Science Writers Meeting, 2023.
A “wise and lovely” essay enchants the reader in a fellow writer. A friend and former colleague analyzes the grace in a meditation by Ann Finkbeiner about the passing of seasons and years.
Bringing a "fresh” perspective to welcome events at ScienceWriters annual meetings. A conference full of unfamiliar faces can be intimidating. Two science writers are trying to fix that — beginning with the ScienceWriters2023 national meeting during its in-person portion, hosted in Colorado.
How health and science writer Lisa Marshall covered the growing smart bandage industry: Here, Marshall talks with AHCJ about how she reported the story and how other journalists can make technology stories accessible to lay readers.
Editors have the power to exercise leadership in science journalism through DEIJ best practices. At the ScienceWriters2023 national meeting, a panel of editors shared their strategies to empower editors to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) within their organizations.
🧭Videos
SEJ Webinar: Mining Public Records To Unearth Air Pollution. (Click on video recording and chat log)
2023 Washington Weekend: Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium Reporting Fellows discuss their reporting, diving into a variety of subjects from the impact of climate change in Mongolia to healthcare in Sierra Leone.
🚢Opportunities
Knight Center offers free online course on how journalists in Brazil can avoid lawsuits.
Year-Long Fellowship for U.S.-Based Journalists of Color: The National Press Foundation’s Widening the Pipeline Fellowship will provide expenses-paid trainings in Washington, D.C., as well as virtual workshops to support journalists of color staying in – and leading – the newsrooms of tomorrow.
Fellowships, grants, and awards for writers + Calls for pitches to write about science, climate solutions, technology, pharmacology, and more👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
⏱️News
21 journalists from 18 countries win COP28 Climate Justice Reporting Fellowship.
John Vidal, former Guardian environment editor, dies aged 74. Pioneering journalist will be remembered for passion for social justice and putting people at centre of stories.
🗓️Events
Data Analysis and Visualization Tools for Science Writers: This workshop will focus on reporting & producing data stories about science topics, highlighting free tools for analysis & visualization. (October 31, 2023)
Online Masterclass: Using ChatGPT to Communicate Science (November 13, 2023)
More events: Bonus content for monthly supporters.
👩🚀Jobs
Science Editor at The Planetary Society (California)
More jobs and internships👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
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