Awards and Honours

Awards are great and I’m proud of mine. But in journalism, as in everything else, success is as much a matter of luck and privilege as it is about talent and diligence. I’ve had a good education, I have worked with excellent editors, and I have spent years in a supportive newsroom, among other advantages that a lot of journalists haven’t had. So to preface this page of accolades, please consider supporting organizations that focus on reducing inequities in the media, including the International Women’s Media Foundation, the Ida B. Wells Society For Investigative Reporting, the Native American Journalists Association, the National Association for Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the South Asian Journalists Association, the Asian American Journalists Association, and the Trans Journalists Association.

 
 

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship 2024

Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize 2023

Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2022

University of Chicago’s Benton Award for Distinguished Public Service 2022

Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting 2021

George Polk Award for science reporting 2021

Finalist for the National Magazine Award in Public Service 2021

AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award - In-Depth Reporting 2020

Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism 2020

John P. McGovern Award from the American Medical Writers’ Association 2020

Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting 2020

National Association of Biology Teachers Distinguished Service Award 2018

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Excellence in Science Journalism Award 2017

Byron H. Waksman Award for Excellence in the Public Communication of Life Sciences 2016

Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for biomedical reporting, 2016

Association of British Science Writers NUJ Stephen White Award for best communication of science in a non science context 2012

National Academies Keck Science Communication Award 2010

Daily Telegraph Science Writer Award 2007, and runner-up awards in 2006-4

Other honours

Longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award 2023

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction 2023

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology 2022

Finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction 2022

Finalist for the National Magazine Award in Public Service 2022

Pandemic pieces were listed in Longform’s Top Ten of 2020, Longread’s Best of 2020, Columbia Journalism Review’s best pandemic journalism of 2020, and Bloomberg’s Jealousy list.

Poynter’s Media Personality of the Year 2020

Featured in The Best American Science Writing anthology in 2019, 2018, and 2011

National Academies Keck Science Communication Award finalist in the Online category 2018 

Judge for the Pulitzer Prizes 2018

National Academies Keck Science Communication Award finalist in the Book category 2017

Finalist for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2017

Finalist for the Wellcome Book Prize 2017

Finalist for the LA Times Book Prize 2017 

European Science Writers Junior Award 2016 

Association of British Science Writer Awards 2014 - Best Science Blog

UK Science Blog Prize 2012 - runner-up

Association of British Science Writer Awards, runner-up for Best Feature 2012 

Three Quarks Daily Science Prize 2010

Research Blogging Awards for Research Blog of the Year, Best Post of the Year, and Best Lay-Level Blog 2010 

Association of British Science Writers Best Newcomer 2009