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
National Book Foundation Science + Literature Award 2025
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
National Academies Keck Science Communication Award 2010
Daily Telegraph Science Writer Award 2007, and runner-up awards in 2006-4
Other honours
Kirkus Best Books of the 21st Century So Far
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