Looking for some holiday reading? We’ve got the answer. Join us on a journey through neuroscience, space, life and death, humour, sadness and sound with the winners, highly commended, and shortlisted entries to the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize 2013 in association with the Guardian and the Observer.
The judging team read almost 600 entries and finally whittled them down to two winners (Katherine Wright in the professional scientist category and Patrick Russell in the general category) who each won £1000 and saw their work edited and published in the Observer and the Guardian respectively. Highly commended entries from Laura Dawes and Josh Davis appeared here, on the Wellcome Trust blog, but we were so impressed with the quality of entries that we wanted to share even more with you. The entire shortlist has been edited, and you can read all 19 pieces in one booklet, available to download as a PDF: Science Writing Prize 2013: The shortlist.
The judging criteria for the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize are broadly “Did I enjoy it? Did I learn something? Was it easy to read?”. After shortlisting by a team of volunteers from the Trust and The Guardian, the shortlisted entries were sent to our esteemed judges who had the tricky task of choosing the best piece in each category.
Our aim is to encourage new voices in the communication of science, to find writers who can explain science in the most engaging way, and to increase the number of people reading, thinking and talking about science. “It was great to see so many entries that tackled challenging science in an informative, entertaining and above all well-written manner” said Hilary Leevers, Head of Education and Learning at the Trust, who was also one of the judges.
Shortlisted writers from previous years have gone on to write about science in a variety of publications, including several book deals, and some have gone on to become fully-fledged science journalists. The Science Writing Prize can lead to fantastic opportunities for those who want to keep writing about science, and we hope that you will enjoy this compilation of engaging articles.
Download the Science Writing Prize 2013: The Shortlist and get reading now! You’ll undoubtedly learn something new. One again we’d like to extend our congratulations to all!
To find out more about the Science Writing Prize, please visit the Trust’s website. Previous years’ shortlisted articles can be found in our archive.
Filed under: Competition, Science Communication, Wellcome Trust Publications, Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize Tagged: Science writing, shortlist, Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize
