The National Academies Communication Award was an annual prize bestowed in recognition of creative works that help the public understand topics in science, engineering or medicine. The awards were established in 2003 and administered by the Keck Futures Initiative, a project of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine that was funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation. The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Ended in 2017 and the final report was published in 2018. The Awards continued through 2019. A $20,000 prize was awarded in each of four categories: Book, Film/Radio/TV, Magazine/Newspaper, and Online. The Online category was created in 2009.
In 2022, the National Academies launched, in partnership with Schmidt Futures, the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication [1] to recognize and develop excellence in science communication by research scientists and by early career, local, and freelance science journalists. The program provides winners with cash awards as well as training and resources to further expand their communication skills.
2019 | Carl Zimmer | She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity [2] "A sweeping yet engaging examination from a personal perspective of the evolving nature of the scientific understanding of heredity across the centuries. The book debunks many of the insidious and profoundly unscientific distortions of heredity, including those that have provided faulty foundations for racism and eugenics – and illuminates the 21st century applications with the greatest promise for transforming people’s lives." |
2018 | Dan Egan | The Death and Life of the Great Lakes [3] "An environmental, historical, and economic analysis, thoroughly researched and compellingly told, of America's Great Lakes and the unintended consequences of short-sighted management decisions." |
2017 | Margot Lee Shetterly | Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race [4] "A hitherto little-known episode in the history of pioneering aerospace engineering and computing brought to light so engagingly that, along with the blockbuster movie it inspired, has had an unprecedented impact on the American public." |
2016 | Deborah Cramer | The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey [5] "A beautifully written natural history of an imperiled bird that embeds evolutionary biology and systematics, marine ecology, physiology, natural history, paleontology, cultural history, and immunology in an absorbing, personal narrative" |
2015 | Mark Miodownik | Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World [6] "A fascinating account of the extraordinary nature of the seemingly ordinary materials of modern-day life." |
2014 | Dan Fagin | Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation [7] "…for its masterful portrayal of the scientific process at work in a town facing environmental crisis." |
2013 | David George Haskell | The Forest Unseen [8] "…for his exquisite portrait of nature's universe, drawn from one tiny patch of forest." |
2012 | Daniel Kahneman | Thinking, Fast and Slow [9] "An outstanding and accessible book that brings to the public key scientific insights about how we think and make decisions." |
2011 | Rebecca Skloot | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks [10] |
2010 | Richard Holmes | The Age of Wonder [11] |
2009 | Neil Shubin | Your Inner Fish [12] |
2008 | Walter Isaacson | Einstein: His Life and Universe [13] |
2007 | Eric Kandel | In Search of Memory [14] |
2006 | Charles C. Mann | 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus [15] |
2005 | John M. Barry | The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History [16] |
2004 | Matt Ridley | The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture [17] |
2003 | Carl Safina | Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival [18] |
2013 | Joanne Silberner, David Baron | PRI's The World | "Cancer's Lonely Soldier," "Pink Ribbons to Haiti," "An Ounce of Prevention," and "The Infectious Connection" ("light on the hidden toll cancer takes in impoverished nations") [8] |
2012 | Paula S. Apsell, Michael Bicks, and Julia Cort | WGBH-TV NOVA | "Smartest Machine on Earth" [9] |
2011 | Alexa Elliott | WPBT2 | "Changing Seas: Sentinels of the Seas" [10] |
2010 | Carole and Richard Rifkind | WNET | Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist [11] |
2009 | Larry Adelman, Llewellyn M. Smith, and Christine Herbes-Sommers | California Newsreel and Vital Pictures | Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? [12] |
2008 | George Butler | White Mountain Films, The Kennedy/Marshall Company and The Walt Disney Company | Roving Mars [13] |
2007 | Jad Abumrad | WNYC Radiolab | "Musical Language" and "Where am I?" [14] |
2006 | Nick Young, Anna Thomson, and Bill Locke | The History Channel and Lion Television | "Ape to Man" [15] |
2005 | Thomas Levenson and Paula Apsell | WGBH-TV NOVA | “Origins: Back to the Beginning.” [16] |
2004 | Sue Norton and David Clark | The Science Channel | "Science of the Deep: Mid-Water Mysteries." [17] |
2003 | Joe Palca | National Public Radio | "series of news stories for radio about the scientific and human dimensions of cloning." [18] |
2013 | Eliot Marshall, Elizabeth Culotta, Ann Gibbons, and Greg Miller | Science | Special issue on human conflict (May 18, 2012): "Parsing Terrorism," "Roots of Racism," "The Ultimate Sacrifice," and "Drone Wars" [8] [19] [20] |
2012 | Crocker Stephenson, Guy Boulton, Mark Johnson, and John Schmid | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | "Empty Cradles" [9] |
2011 | Amy Harmon | The New York Times | "Target: Cancer" [10] |
2010 | Charles Duhigg | The New York Times | "Toxic Waters" [11] |
2009 | Mark Johnson | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | "Targeting the Good Cell" [12] |
2008 | Bob Marshall, Mark Schleifstein, Dan Swenson, and Ted Jackson | The Times-Picayune | "Last Chance: The Fight to Save a Disappearing Coast", "an outstanding newspaper series that combines superb storytelling with the latest science in its call to action to save Louisiana's wetlands" [13] |
2007 | Carl Zimmer | freelance writer | "for his diverse and consistently interesting coverage of evolution and unexpected biology" [14] |
2006 | Elizabeth Kolbert | The New Yorker | "The Climate of Man" [15] |
2005 | Gareth Cook | The Boston Globe | “The Stem Cell Debate.” [16] |
2004 | Richard Lee Hotz | The Los Angeles Times | "Butterfly on a Bullet" [17] |
2003 | Andrew Revkin | The New York Times | "series of articles on the complex science and policy issues of global climate change" [18] |
2013 | Alison Young and Peter Eisler (reporters), John Hillkirk (content editor), and the entire team | USA TODAY | series "Ghost Factories" a nationwide investigation of abandoned lead factories [8] [21] |
2012 | Daniel Engber | Slate | "The Mouse Trap: How One Rodent Rules the Lab" [9] |
2011 | Andrew Revkin | The New York Times and Pace University | Dot Earth blog [10] |
2010 | Ed Yong | discovermagazine.com | "Not Exactly Rocket Science" blog [11] |
2009 | Vikki Valentine, Alison Richards, and Anne Gudenkauf | NPR News | for Climate Connections, a yearlong multimedia journey to explain the impacts of global climate change with well-reported stories from around the world [12] |
2008 | Alan Boyle | MSNBC.com | " for selected works from Cosmic Log and his pioneering efforts to bring daily coverage of the physical sciences, technological innovation and space sciences to broad new audiences on a popular news web site" [13] |
Bonnie Lynn Bassler is an American molecular biologist; the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She has researched cell-to-cell chemical communication in bacteria and discovered key insights into the mechanism by which bacteria communicate, known as quorum sensing. She has contributed to the idea that disruption of chemical signaling can be used as an antimicrobial therapy.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity. AAAS was the first permanent organization established to promote science and engineering nationally and to represent the interests of American researchers from across all scientific fields. It is the world's largest general scientific society, with over 120,000 members, and is the publisher of the well-known scientific journal Science.
The University of Erlangen–Nuremberg is a public research university in the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany. The name Friedrich–Alexander is derived the university's first founder Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and its benefactor Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach.
Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times, Discover, and National Geographic. He is a fellow at Yale University's Morse College and adjunct professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Zimmer also gives frequent lectures and has appeared on many radio shows, including National Public Radio's Radiolab, Fresh Air, and This American Life.
Renée Montagne is an American radio journalist and was the co-host of National Public Radio's weekday morning news program, Morning Edition, from May 2004 to November 11, 2016. Montagne and Inskeep succeeded longtime host Bob Edwards, initially as interim replacements, and Greene joined the team in 2012. Montagne had served as a correspondent and occasional host since 1989. She usually broadcasts from NPR West in Culver City, California, a Los Angeles suburb.
Lisa Feldman Barrett is a University Distinguished Professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where she focuses on affective science. She is a director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory. Along with James Russell, she is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Emotion Review. Along with James Gross, she founded the Society for Affective Science.
Brian Paul Schmidt is a Distinguished Professor and astrophysicist at the Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU) from January 2016 to January 2024. He is known for his research in using supernovae as cosmological probes. He previously held a Federation Fellowship and a Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2012. Schmidt shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
Elizabeth Kolbert is an American journalist, author, and visiting fellow at Williams College.
Amy Harmon is an American journalist. She won a Pulitzer Prize as a correspondent for The New York Times covering the impact of science and technology on everyday life. Harmon uses narrative storytelling to illuminate the human dilemmas posed by advances in science. In 2013, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow. Her daughter Sasha Matthews is a cartoonist.
Dan Fagin is an American journalist who specializes in environmental science. He won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his best-selling book Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation. Toms River also won the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, the National Academies Communication Award, and the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award of the Society of Environmental Journalists, among other literary prizes.
Joseph M. DeSimone is an American chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur who has co-founded companies based on his research, including the American 3D printing technology company, Carbon, of which he was CEO from 2014 until November 2019.
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Hamburg is an American physician and public health administrator, who is serving as the chair of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and co-chair of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). She served as the 21st Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from May 2009 to April 2015.
Alondra Nelson is an American academic, policy advisor, non-profit administrator, and writer. She is the Harold F. Linder chair and professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, New Jersey. Since March 2023, she has been a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Abrahm Lustgarten is an American investigative reporter, author, filmmaker and public speaker specializing in human adaptation to climate change, and an educator training journalists in cross-disciplinary communication about the climate crisis. He writes on staff for ProPublica and has worked with the New York Times Magazine.
Brian Christian is an American non-fiction author, poet, programmer and researcher, best known for a bestselling series of books about the human implications of computer science, including The Most Human Human (2011), Algorithms to Live By (2016), and The Alignment Problem (2020).
Changing Seas is a public television series produced by South Florida PBS (WPBT2-WXEL) in Miami, Florida, and narrated by announcers Craig Sechler and Peter Thomas.
Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation is a 2013 non-fiction book by the American author Dan Fagin. It is about the dumping of industrial pollution by chemical companies including Ciba-Geigy, in Toms River, New Jersey, beginning in 1952 through the 1980s, and the epidemiological investigations of a cancer cluster that subsequently emerged there. The book won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, the 2014 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the 2014 National Academies Communication Award.
Ioannis (Yannis) C. Paschalidis is a professor at Boston University with appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Computing & Data Sciences. He serves as the Director of the Center for Information and Systems Engineering.
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic venture founded by Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt in 2017. The philanthropy funds science and technology research and talent networking programs. The organization's grants include large-scale "moonshots". Schmidt Futures is based in New York City with offices in Washington, D.C., and London.
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