I am very honored that the jury of the Association of Britsh Science Writers (ABSW) has named me European Science Writer of the Year 2018! This prize is awarded once a year, and as afirst step the national science journalist organisations may nominate one candidate for their country. In January, the Association of German Science Journalists WPK nominated me as the German representative for this competition, which filled me with pride and joy. This year, outstanding colleagues from 20 European countries were nominated.
In June, the jury finally announced that I had entered the final together with Martin Enserik from Science (Holland) and Nathaniel Herzberg from Le Monde (France). At the European Conference of Science Journalists 2018 in Toulouse on 8 July, the jury finally announced that I was the winner. I still can hardly believe it.
Here is a short jury statement, in which the English translation of the award-winning texts is also linked. The German versions can be found here on the homepage.
Eva's work that, provided a revealing insight into the life and work of Russian cosmonauts published in Der Spiegel; exposes the extensive use of biometrics to identify bank customers published in Die Zeit; and on tech that measures the 'hidden' stress of autistic people published in Süddeutsche Zeitung, gave her the edge over the other 19 nominees for the 2018 Award. (Eva's winning work translated to English)
In their nomination of Eva for the Award, the German Science Journalists' Association, WPK, said: "Time and again, Eva Wolfangel proves that even in the difficult and unemotional field of technology journalism, you can produce pieces that surprise and touch people. With great creativity, clarity of thought and expression she finds unusual ways of addressing ‘unwieldy’ topics."
At an evening reception at the Natural History Museum in Toulouse, delegates of the ECSJ2018 gathered, to discover which of the three finalists would win the Award. Mico Tatalovic, Chair of the ABSW, introduced the Award: "This competition has been growing each year, and we’ve had a record number of entries this year. It’s fantastic to see so many excellent science journalists producing an amazing variety of high quality content around the continent."
Seema Kumar, Vice President of Innovation, Global Health and Policy Communication, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, sponsors of the Award, announced the winner and presented Eva with her prize cheque, certificate and champagne.
Finalists Martin Enserink, International News Editor, Science (The Netherlands) and Nathaniel Herzberg, Science journalist, Le Monde (France) were also presented with certificates. All 20 nominees for the award were congratulated and those attending, Vera Novais of Portugal, Julianna Photopoulos of Greece and Lea Udovč of Solvenia also received certificates.
The Award co-ordinated by the ABSW, is now in its fourth year and opens for entry alongside the ABSW Science Writers' Awards for Great Britain and Ireland. National science journalism associations throughout Europe put forward their nominee for the Award and then the finalists and winner are selected by a panel of European science journalists.
One of the 2018 judges Sabine Louët, Founder SciencePOD.net and also present at the ceremony said: "The level of entries was particularly high, this year. It is good to see science journalism is gaining some firm ground in terms of quality, right across Europe. We need to continue engaging with the science journalists community in Europe to share good practice and facilitate cross-border reporting."