Australia's  best science writers have been honoured at  the  inaugural  Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing held at the Tyree Energy Technologies Building and attended by Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb.

Established by NewSouth Publishing this year, the annual prize recognises the best short non-fiction writing for a general audience.

It is named in honour of Australia’s first Nobel Laureates, William Henry Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg, who won the 1915 Nobel Prize for physics for their work on the analysis of crystal structures using X-rays.

Professor Ian Chubb was on hand to present the winner’s prize of $7000 to Jo Chandler for her piece ‘Storm Front’, an excerpt from her book Feeling the Heat.

The judges praised Chandler's “masterful narrative which transformed science from a stultifying polemic to an engaging personal story”.

Runners-up Ashley Hay, ‘The Aussie Mozzie Posse’ and Peter McAllister, ‘The Evolution of the Inadequate Modern Male’, were awarded $1500 each.

The winning entries are included in NewSouth’s anthology, The Best Australian Science Writing 2012. Edited by Elizabeth Finkel, the collection is available now.

The Bragg UNSW Press Prize is supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Media contact: Matt Howard,  02 8936 0026,  0400 221 815