For Immediate Release
April 20, 2022
Contact: Christine Dell’Amore
rueparadis@gmail.com
Winners Announced for 13th Annual DCSWA Newsbrief Award
Washington, D.C.—A comic on clever cockatoos that can open garbage cans and an Instagram post about inequalities facing women in the midst of climate change have won the twelfth annual D.C. Science Writers Association’s Newsbrief Awards.
Longform journalism often gets our accolades, but short pieces are the true workhorses of science communication. In the spirit of recognizing these unsung works of excellence, we have been offering the Newsbrief Awards since 2009.
For the 2021 award, two separate panels of distinguished science writers judged more than 50 entries divided into two categories: writing and multimedia.
In the writing category, Isabella Isaacs-Thomas and Megan McGrew won for their Instagram post “Women and girls disproportionately impacted by climate change” for PBS NewsHour. “Through concise and powerful writing, the authors brought to light a little-known issue that impacts us all,” wrote one judge.
Isabella is a digital science reporter at PBS NewsHour. She got her start in journalism as an intern at Michigan Radio and joined PBS NewsHour as a news assistant in December 2019. Since August 2021, she has been a digital reporter on the science desk covering a range of stories including the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation, technology, and research at the intersection of science and society.
Megan is an associate producer for PBS NewsHour and makes engaging
graphics and science animations on topics such as the environment,
health, and space. They studied communication at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
A writing honorable mention was awarded to Sid Perkins for his story “Engineers surprised by the power of an elephant’s trunk,” published in Science News for Students.
Sid is a freelance science journalist based in Crossville, Tennessee. He specializes in earth sciences and paleontology but often tackles topics such as astronomy, planetary sciences, materials sciences, and engineering. Besides Science News for Students, Sid’s writing also appears in Science, Science News, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Another writing honorable mention went to Ariana Remmel for their story “Here’s the chemistry behind marijuana’s skunky scent,” which ran in Science News.
Ari is a science journalist, audio producer, and essayist. They have written for Nature, Science News, and BirdNote among others, and are currently a staff writer for Chemical & Engineering News. When not writing about molecules, Ari enjoys looking for birds near their home in Little Rock, Arkansas.
In the multimedia category, Sarah Zielinski and JoAnna Wendel earned top prize for their comic “Cockatoos learn from each other how to open garbage bins,” published in Science News for Students.
“This short piece is top-tier science communication,” a judge wrote. “The format is engaging, innovative, and does a wonderful job illustrating the process of scientific inquiry to inspire young minds to question the environment around them.”
Sarah is the editor of Science News Explores, a new magazine launching in May, and the managing editor of Science News for Students. She also writes and edits science biography comics for the TinyView comics reader app. She has a B.A. in biological sciences from Cornell University and an M.A. in journalism through New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She loves to write about animals and ecology. On a sunny day, you can find her in her garden, planting more flowers.
JoAnna is a science writer and cartoonist living in Portland, Oregon. She’s written and made science comics for publications such as Science News for Students, Eos, Popular Science, Smithsonian, and more. JoAnna is fascinated by many areas of science but holds a special place in her heart for planetary science and invertebrates (especially if they’re in the ocean). In her spare time, JoAnna likes to paint, draw, read, look at birds, turn over rocks, and commune with trees.
An honorable mention in the multimedia category is awarded to Joel Goldberg, with story editing by Catherine Matacic and Kelly Servick and graphics by Ashley Mastin. Their video, “Scientists struggle to ‘awaken’ patients from rare sleep disorders“, ran on Science magazine’s YouTube channel.
Joel is a multimedia producer based in the D.C. area. His videos present complex scientific research as explanatory narratives. Kelly is a news writer and editor at Science magazine covering neuroscience and other biomedical research. Catherine is an online editor at Science, specializing in linguistics and the social sciences. Ashley is a scientific illustrator at Science magazine. She creates graphics that aid readers in visualizing complex topics in research.
Devin A. Reese, Christie Wilcox, and the SciShow team also won an honorable mention for their video “The Stressful Reasons Corals Are Becoming More Colorful,” published by the SciShow channel.
Devin is a science writer and editor living in the D.C. area, where she raised her three offspring. With a Ph.D. in integrative biology and ecology and a bachelor’s in animal behavior, her writing focuses on the natural world. She is currently the executive editor of Natural History magazine, as well as a freelance writer for various organizations and outlets, including The Scientist, Science News, and Cricket Muse.
Christie is an award-winning science writer and editor based in Washington. She often describes herself as a reformed scientist, as after earning a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology, she left academia to pursue a career in science journalism. As a writer, her bylines include The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Science, Discover, Science News, and National Geographic, among others. In the spring of 2021, she joined The Scientist as the magazine’s newsletter editor.
Conceived of and created by Hank Green, SciShow launched in 2012 as part of YouTube Original Channel Initiative. It’s since grown to launch three other channels and a podcast: SciShow Space, SciShow Psych, SciShow Kids, and SciShow Tangents. SciShow celebrates being endlessly curious about what makes the universe tick.
DCSWA plans to celebrate the winners in an upcoming ceremony, whose date will be announced soon. Teams that won top awards will receive $300 and a framed certificate; those awarded honorable mentions will receive framed certificates.
DCSWA members were eligible to submit entries published between January 1 and December 31, 2021. The D.C. Science Writers Association is an organization of more than 300 science reporters, editors, authors, and public information officers based in the national capital area. Details on how to enter the 2022 Newsbrief Award will appear on the DCSWA website by the end of the year.
Photos of the winners are available upon request.
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