Fiona Stanley to announce Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing

Founding Director and Patron of the Telethon Kids Institute and a former Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley AC will launch The Best Australian Science Writing 2016 next week and announce the Bragg prize winner.

The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing is an annual $7000 award for the best short, non-fiction piece on science written for a general audience. Two runners up each receive $1500.

All six shortlisted entries are included in The Best Australian Science Writing 2016, which this year explores a range of fascinating questions. How equipped are our eucalypts to handle climate change? What happened to Australia’s ice age megafauna? Why are Sydney’s beachgoers at risk of developing meat allergy? Are local communities spearheading the transition to renewable energy?

UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs will also present prizes to the winner and two runners up of the UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing at the literary event, to be held next Thursday evening at the Australian Museum.

Now in its sixth year, the acclaimed Best Australian Science Writing series draws on the knowledge and insights of Australia’s brightest thinkers in examining the world around us.

This year’s collection is edited by Walkley Award-winning journalist Jo Chandler, and writers include Bianca Nogrady, Michael Slezak, Jane McCredie, Margaret Wertheim and Peter Doherty.

The Bragg prize is named in honour of Australia’s first Nobel laureates – William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg – and is supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

The six shortlisted pieces are: 

•             Slippery migrants by James Bradley

•             Beautiful contrivances by Susan Doubleday

•             Every lizard counts by Nicole Gill

•             Pluto and the human gaze by Alice Gorman

•             The forest at the edge of time by Ashley Hay

•             Lucy’s lullaby: Song for the ages by Fiona McMillan

The UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing is an initiative of UNSW Press, UNSW Science and Refraction Media, and is designed to encourage and celebrate the next generation of science writers, researchers and leaders, with prize vouchers of $500 and $250 for the winner and two runners-up.

Students in years 7 to 10 were invited to write an 800-word essay on an Australian invention of discovery.

The 2016 winner is:

Marissa Petrakis, Year 10, Meriden School, for From here to the stars: discovering supernovae.

The runners up are:

Gemma Macauley-Black, Year 8, Frensham, for Can you hear me?

Chelsy Teng, Year 9, James Ruse Agricultural High School, for An innovative instrument: the scanning tunnelling microscope.

The three essays can be read here.

LITERARY EVENT

What: Launch of The Best Australian Science Writing 2016 and announcement of the Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing

When: Thursday 10 November, 2016 – 6.00 to 8.00 pm

Where: Australian Museum, Cnr College & William St, Sydney

Media contact and RSVPs: Deborah.Smith@unsw.edu.au