On a hot summers’ evening on July 14, 2022 the ABSW presented its awards, aka the ‘Oscars of science journalism’, at the Royal College of Physicians, London.
The highlight of the night was the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award, made to Judith Hann, best known for her work on the TV programme, Tomorrow’s World. Judith gave an inspiring speech on the hurdles she had faced as a woman in the male dominated world of science journalism in the 60s/70s and 80s. It was clear that this trailblazer for women had inspired many in the audience to go into science journalism. Thankfully times have clearly changed as the list of finalists and winners in 2022 was dominated by women journalists and broadcasters. You can watch the whole of the ceremony here, including the amazing Lifetime Achievement award presentation to Judith Hann from 1h23 mins.
Research Professional News was the biggest hitter of the night. Its journalist Sophie Inge was nominated for ‘Research Policy or Funding Story of the Year’ and for ‘News Item of the Year’ – she won both, the latter jointly with her colleague Robin Bisson. Robin was also nominated for ‘Newcomer of the Year’ and ‘Research Policy or Funding Story of the Year’. Editor of Research Professional News, Sarah Richardson carried away the ‘Editor of the Year’ award, won jointly with Helen Pearson of Nature.
Alok Jha of the Economist had a great night with two wins, the ‘News Analysis or Explanatory Reporting’ award and the new ‘Podcast of the Year’ award, which he won along with his teammates from the Economist podcast, Babbage.
Perhaps the most excited winner of the night was Richard Hollingham who won in the Video of the Year category along with his teammate Jamie Partridge. Richard, of Boffin Media, has been nominated many times in past year’s so this win was a long time coming.
We have run the awards online for the past two years due to the pandemic, making this a particularly special occasion. Vivienne Parry, broadcaster and writer, hosted the awards both slickly and stylishly enabling all finalists and winners to then celebrate in the gardens with freshly-made pizza and ice cream.
Thanks are due to the sponsors of the ABSW awards the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, IBM Research Europe, The Dr Katharine Giles Fund and the Royal Society. Also to the judges, chaired expertly by Martin Ince, who also spoke at the awards on the quality of entries that made many of the decisions extremely difficult.
The next round of the awards will open for entry in January 2023.
