ABSW Lifetime Achievement Award

2024 Lifetime Achievement Award

Awarded to Debora MacKenzie, freelance writer

In his nominating statement ABSW Chair Andy Extance said:  

Debora's contribution on pandemic reporting, in particular in forewarning about covid-19 and holding governments to account for their failures in responding to it, is a journalistic achievement worthy of this award.

Many of Debora's former colleagues also wanted to pass on their thoughts and best wishes.

Damian Carrington, Environment Editor, The Guardian

I had the privilege of working with Debora for seven years at New Scientist. Her unique combination of passion, energy and encyclopaedic knowledge was awe-inspiring and produced exemplary reporting. She was also great fun!

Philip Ball, Science Writer and Editor

This is a fabulous choice of course! Strangely, I had never actually met Debora until she came to my book launch in March, although we’d corresponded. So, I can’t claim to know her well, except through her work. But of course, that work is exceptional. The first time I really delved more deeply into it was when reviewing her book on Covid, which still astonishes me for its depth and clarity given that it was written almost instantly. I don’t imagine anyone else could have done that. I’ll confess that when it became clear to me - I think it must have been in February 2020 - that Covid was going to be immense and world-changing, I toyed for a few days with the idea of trying to write something fast. I’m so glad that I abandoned that foolish idea quickly, because it would never have approached the authority or insight that Debora brought to bear. And of course, that was only possible because she has spent so many years becoming so profoundly informed about infectious disease. This ABSW award couldn’t be more richly deserved. 

Fred Pearce, Science Writer and Author (and a previous ABSW Lifetime Achievement winner)

Debora showed up at Lawrence McGinty's New Scientist leaving drinks in 1982 – and never left. She has always had a great news nose, forensic skills in understanding the science, and attitude.  Especially attitude.  Reporting from the hospitals of Bhopal or an erupting Mount Etna, drought-torn Ethiopia or the end of civilization, complexity or emerging diseases and the origins of the Covid crisis, she does science journalism like nobody else.   Interrogating science, where others just reported it.  Nobody has done it better at New Scientist – or for longer.  Oh, and if you want not just to report the next epidemic, but to learn how to stop it, read her book on the topic.  As the great Tim Harford says on the cover, "you could not hope for better".

Liz Else, Senior Culture Editor, New Scientist

For someone with a terrific sense of fun, Deb Mackenzie has spent a lot of time in some very dark places.  

At New Scientist magazine, where we both worked for years, she was known for worrying us all about everything from antibiotic resistance and bird flu to arms control and Ebola – and even to the collapse of civilisation itself. 

But the biggest feather in a well-festooned cap must be her increasing insistence that a pandemic was just round the corner. We took her seriously, but who knew when it would arrive and in what form? 

In December 2019, we found out as China told the World Health Organization about a cluster of cases of “viral pneumonia” in the city of Wuhan, cause unknown. That cause turned out to be SARS CoV-2, the coronavirus behind covid-19. 

Somehow, in the thick of it, Deb managed an extraordinary feat. In just two months (think of it), she wrote the first book about the disease, COVID-19: The Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened, and How to Stop the Next One. It was published in July 2020.

At New Scientist and within the union, we look forward to her future career with great interest.   

Well done, Deb!

Brief Biography

After postgraduate work in scientific research and freelancing for a range of newspapers and magazines, Debora worked almost exclusively for New Scientist, the British scientific weekly, for 38 years, covering a wide variety of subjects. She then switched to books. "Covid 19: the pandemic that never should have happened and how to stop the next one" (Hachette) appeared at the height of the first wave of Covid in July, 2020; an expanded version, "Stopping the next pandemic", appeared in 2021. In addition she occasionally writes for other publications and scientific conferences. She specialises in biomedical and social issues, especially infectious disease, food and agriculture, arms control, the role of complexity in political and social development, and the risk of collapse. She has written thousands of news stories, opinion and in-depth feature articles during her career. Many were exclusive. Some won awards. A few even managed to change some small bit of the world that needed the spotlight of responsible journalism. She plans to continue trying to do that.