The Science in Society Journalism Awards have been presented annually by the American National Association of Science Writers (NASW) since 1972 to recognize "...investigative or interpretive reporting about the sciences and their impact on modern society". Over the years, the particular categories for which they have awarded prizes has evolved, and in their words, they "seek to recognize science writing that is shaped by a variety of perspectives".
Past recipients
2024 Books: Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World's Most Vulnerable Places by Christopher Pollon (Greystone Books) Science Reporting: "Should beetles be named after Adolf Hitler?" by Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, published by Science magazine Science Features: "In the Lab Oppenheimer Built, the U.S. Is Building Nuclear Bomb Cores Again" by W.J. Hennigan, published by TIME magazine Longform Narratives: "The Mining Industry's Next Frontier Is Deep, Deep Under the Sea" by Vince Beiser, published in WIRED Series: "Bleeding Out" by Lauren Caruba and Ari Sen, co-published by The Dallas Morning News and the San Antonio Express-News Commentary: "I Worked in Antarctica for Three Years. My Sexual Harasser Was Never Caught" by Elizabeth Endicott, published in Scientific American
2023 Books: When Children Feel Pain: From Everyday Aches to Chronic Conditions by Rachel Rabkin Peachman and Anna C. Wilson (Harvard University Press) Science Reporting: "How Indigenous Sea Gardens Produced Massive Amounts of Food for Millennia" by Ashley Braun, published by Hakai Magazine Science Features: "Thousands of Migrant Workers Died in Qatar's Extreme Heat. The World Cup Forced a Reckoning" by Aryn Baker, published by Time Longform Narratives: "A Field at a Crossroads: Genetics and Racial Mythmaking" by Ashley Smart, published by Undark Magazine Series: "Fighting for Air" by Talis Shelbourne, published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Commentary: "We Can Fight Monkeypox Without Hysteria or Homophobia" by Kai Kupferschmidt, published by The New York Times
2022 Books: Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World, by Emma Marris (Bloomsbury Publishing) Science Reporting: "How Heat Waves Warp Ecosystems" by Julia Rosen, published by High Country News Science Features: "Brazil Shows You Can Harvest Sugar Cane Without Polluting the Air: What Florida's Sugar Farmers Can Learn About Burning Cane" by Nadia Sussman (reporting and production, cinematography), Joseph Singer (video editing), Mauricio Rodríguez Pons (graphics and animation), Letícia Klein (additional reporting, production assistance), with Lulu Ramadan (additional reporting) and Kevina Tidwell (archival producer), and executive producer Almudena Toral and series editor Michael Mishak, co-produced by WGCU and ProPublica Longform Narratives: "The Pain Was Unbearable, So Why Did Doctors Turn Her Away?" by Maia Szalavitz, published by WIRED Series: "Unsalvageable: Preventable Amputations Rise During COVID" by Eli Cahan, published by WebMD/Medscape Commentary: "Why are Police Using a World War I-Era Chemical Weapon on Civilians?" by Jennifer L. Brown, Roman Tyshynsky, Timothy Monko, Carlee Toddes, and Carey Lyons, published by Scientific American
2021 Books: What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World by Sara Hendren (Riverhead Books) Science Reporting: "How to Dodge the Sonic Weapon Used by Police" by Lynne Peskoe-Yang, published in Popular Mechanics Science Features: "In Collecting Indigenous Feces, a Slew of Sticky Ethics" by Katherine J. Wu, published by Undark Magazine Longform: "America's Radioactive Secret" by Justin Nobel, published by Rolling Stone Series: "Where Will Everyone Go? How Climate Refugees Might Move Across International Borders" by Abrahm Lustgarten, Meridith Kohut, Sergey Ponomarev, Al Shaw, and Lucas Waldron, published by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine
2020
Book: Katherine Eban for her book Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom (Ecco/HarperCollins) Science Reporting: "Cigarette Butts Are Everywhere. Is Banning Filters a Viable Solution?" by Robin Kazmier published in Audubon Science Features: "The Confession: A psychologist has shown how police questioning can get innocent people to condemn themselves" by Douglas Starr, published in Science Magazine Longform: "The Final Five Percent" by Tim Requarth, published in Longreads Series: "Polluter's Paradise" by Tristan Baurick, Joan Meiners, Claire Perlman, Gordon Russell, Sara Sneath, Mark Schleifstein, Al Shaw, and Lylla Younes, published by ProPublica and The Advocate
2019
Book: Carl Zimmer for his book She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potentials of Heredity (Dutton) Science Reporting: "In the Land of Quakes, Engineering a Future for a Church Made of Mud" by Michelle Donahue published in The New York Times Science Features: "Scientists think Alabama's sewage problem has caused a tropical parasite. The state has done little about it" by Arielle Duhaime-Ross, published in VICE News Longform: "Surrendering to Rising Sea" by Jen Schwartz, published in Scientific American Series: "Poisoned Cities, Deadly Border" by Ian James and Zoë Meyers in The Desert Sun
2018 Book: Maryn McKenna for her book Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats (National Geographic) Science Reporting - Short category: "The Mystery of the Wasting House-Cats" by Emily Anthes, published in The New York Times Magazine Science Reporting - Medium category: "Accidental Therapists: For Insect Detectives, the Trickiest Cases Involve the Bugs That Aren't Really There" by Eric Boodman, published in STAT Science Reporting - Long category: "The Detective of Northern Oddities" by Christopher Solomon, published in Outside Science Reporting - Series: "United States of Climate Change", by the United States of Climate Change Reporting Team, published by The Weather Channel Digital Local or Regional Science Reporting: "Doomed by Delay" by Patricia Callahan, published in Chicago Tribune
2017 Book: Emily Voigt for her book The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish (Scribner) Science Reporting: "Science for Sale" by David Heath and Jie Jenny Zou, published in Center for Public Integrity Longform: "Choking to Death in Detroit" by Zoë Schlanger, published in Newsweek Local or Regional Science Reporting: "When the Dust Settles" by Eva Hershaw, published in Texas Monthly Commentary or Opinion: "Not Just a Death, a System Failure", by Barbara Moran published in The New York Times
2016 Book: Andrew Nikiforuk for his book Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider's Stand Against the World's Most Powerful Industry (Greystone Books) Science Reporting: "How the Fight Against Ebola Tested a Culture's Traditions" by Amy Maxmen, published in National Geographic Longform: "Bees, Inc." by Josh Dzieza, published in Pacific Standard Local or Regional Science Reporting: "Leaving the Sea: Staten Islanders Experiment with Managed Retreat" by Elizabeth Rush, published in Urban Omnibus Commentary or Opinion: "Handle with Care" by Emma Marris, published in Orion Magazine
2015 Book: Judy Foreman for her book A Nation in Pain: Healing Our Biggest Health Problem (Oxford University Press) Science Reporting: "Why Nothing Works" by Erik Vance, published in Discover Longform: "Big Oil, Bad Air" by Lisa Song, David Hasemyer, Jim Morris, Greg Gilderman, and more than a dozen other colleagues, published in InsideClimate News Local or Regional Science Reporting: "Battle of the Ash Borer" by Matthew Miller, published in the Lansing State Journal Commentary or Opinion: No award was given
2014
Book: Sheri Fink for her book Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (Crown Publishing Group) Science Reporting: "A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA" by Amy Harmon, published in The New York Times Longform: "Uprising: The Environmental Scandal That's Happening Right Beneath Your Feet" by Phil McKenna, published in Matter Local or Regional Science Reporting: "The Tree Coroners" by Cally Carswell, published in High Country News Commentary or Opinion: "23andMe is Terrifying, but Not for the Reasons the FDA Thinks" by Charles Seife, published in Scientific American's SA Forum
2013
Book: David Quammen for his book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (W.W. Norton) Science Reporting: "Witness to an Antarctic Meltdown" by freelancer Douglas Fox, published in Scientific American Longform: "Playing with Fire" by Patricia Callahan, Sam Roe and Michael Hawthorne, published in the Chicago Tribune Local or Regional Science Reporting: "The Color of Bunny" by freelancer Hillary Rosner, published in High Country News Commentary or Opinion: "The Real Scandal" by freelancer Christie Aschwanden, posted on the blog The Last Word on Nothing
2012
Book: Seth Mnookin for his book Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear (Simon & Schuster) Science Reporting: "Poisoned Places" by reporters from the Center for Public Integrity (Jim Morris, Chris Hamby, Ronnie Greene, Elizabeth Lucas, Emma Schwartz) and NPR (Elizabeth Shogren, Howard Berkes, Sandra Bartlett, John Poole, Robert Benincasa) Local or Regional Science Reporting: "Perilous Passages" by Emilene Ostlind, Mary Ellen Hannibal, and Cally Carswell, published in High Country News Commentary or Opinion: "Ban Chimp Testing" by the Scientific American Board of Editors, published in Scientific American
2011 Book: Maryn McKenna for her book Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA (Free Press) Science Reporting: Katy Butler for her New York Times Magazine article, "My Father's Broken Heart" Local or Regional Science Reporting: Barbara Moran for her Boston Globe Magazine article, "Power Politics" Commentary or Opinion: Charles Homans, for his Columbia Journalism Review article, "Hot Air"
2010 Book: Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrove for Normal at Any Cost: Tall Girls, Short Boys, and the Medical Industry's Quest to Manipulate Height (Tarcher/Penguin) Science Reporting: Martha Mendoza and Margie Mason won for their Associated Press series "When Drugs Stop Working" Science Reporting: Charles Duhigg won for his New York Times series "Toxic Waters" Local or Regional Science Reporting: J. Madeleine Nash for her article "Bring in the Cows", which appeared in High Country News
There was not an award in the Commentary or Opinion category in 2010.
2009 Book: Alison Bass for her book Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill) Science Reporting: Jason Felch and Maura Dolan for their series in the Los Angeles Times, "Genes as Evidence" Local or Regional Science Reporting: Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong for their series in the Seattle Times, "Culture of Resistance" Commentary: Pamela Ronald for "The New Organic", which appeared on boston.com
2008
Book: Liza Mundy for her book Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Men and Women and the World (Knopf) Magazine: Beth Whitehouse for her Newsday series "The Match" Broadcast: Stephen Lyons and Llewellyn M. Smith for their docudrama "Forgotten Genius", which appeared on PBS's NOVA television series.
2007 Book: Nicholas Wade for Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors (Penguin Books) Broadcast: David Sington for his documentary "Dimming the Sun", which appeared on PBS's NOVA television series. Newspaper: Kenneth Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling for their Los Angeles Times series "Altered Oceans"
2005
Book: Robin Marantz Henig for Pandora's Baby: How the First Test-Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Broadcast: Craig Duff and Andrew Revkin for Arctic Rush, (a New York Times/ Discovery Channel/CBC Documentary)