Wilson da Silva

Wilson da Silva
Wilson da Silva
Born	Brazil
Occupation	Feature Writer, Science Journalist and Editor
Nationality	Australian, Portuguese, Brazilian
Notable awards	AFI Best Documentary (2000); Publishers Australia Editor of the Year (2005, 2006)

Last updated August 08, 2023

Wilson da Silva is an Australian feature writer, science journalist, editor and documentary filmmaker who has worked in magazines, newswires, newspapers, television and online. He is a co-founder and the long-serving former editor of Cosmos , an Australian science magazine.

Career

Da Silva has been an on-air science reporter and producer for Australian Broadcasting Corporation television, a staff journalist on The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers, a foreign correspondent for Reuters, science editor of ABC Online, a correspondent for London's New Scientist magazine, and served as managing editor of the science magazines Newton, 21C and Science Spectra.^[1]

He was the founding Content Director of the Waterloo Global Science Initiative, and Moderator of Equinox Summit: Energy 2030, the inaugural meeting at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, which sought to apply science and technology to global problems.^[2] From 2006–09, he was editor-in-chief of the Green Lifestyle Magazine, an environmental consumer lifestyle title that was the country's first carbon neutral magazine and produced on 100% recycled paper.

He is the creator of HELLO FROM EARTH , a web-based initiative to send messages from the public, each just 160 characters in length, to Gliese 581d, the nearest Earth-like planet outside the Solar System. Created as a science communication exercise for 2009 National Science Week in Australia, it collected nearly 26,000 messages that were beamed by NASA's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex on 28 August 2009.^[3]

The winner of 32 awards, including Editor of the Year (twice – in 2005 and 2006, Publishers Australia Excellence Awards),^[4] the 1997 Human Rights Award for Print Journalism and the 1996 Michael Daley Award for Science Journalism. He has also written and produced two prize-winning documentaries, including The Diplomat, the film that depicted Nobel Peace laureate José Ramos-Horta and his eventually successful struggle to win independence for East Timor. The film won da Silva and fellow producer Sally Browning the 2000 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary^[4].

Da Silva served as president of the World Federation of Science Journalists, the Australian Science Communicators, and The Australian Museum Society, and as a board member of the Australian Society of Authors. He is one of the founders of Science in the Pub, an innovative public communication initiative which was jointly awarded the 2000 Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science.

In October 2009, da Silva created and hosted six Science in the Pub sessions for the Quantum to Cosmos festival at Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, and also hosted two Quantum to Cosmos panels. In his opening panel, he asked nine physicists, "what keeps you awake at night?"^[5] After departing as editor-in-chief of Cosmos in 2013, he has stated that he plans to "sit back and either get back into films or maybe write some books."^[6]

He makes frequent appearances on radio and television in Australia, including breakfast TV shows Sunrise and Today , and has spoken at many public lectures and conferences, among them the UNESCO World Science Forum, the EuroScience Open Forum, and Japan's annual Science and Technology in Society Forum. Born in Brazil of Portuguese ancestry, he now lives in Sydney.

Filmography

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Year	TV Show	Story	Role	Duration
2004	Catalyst	Baroness and the Brain	Reporter	5:11
2000	Quantum	Roman Theatre	Producer, writer, presenter	4:41
2000	Quantum	Mirror Matter	Producer, writer, presenter	7:55
2000	Quantum	Bomb Snooper	Producer, writer, presenter	4:50
1999	Quantum	The Computer CSIRAC	Producer, writer, presenter	5:15
1999	Quantum	Frog Killer	Producer, writer, presenter	4:41
1999	Quantum	Empty Pouches	Producer, writer, presenter	6:48
1999	Quantum	Mining the Deep	Producer, writer, presenter	6:31
1999	Quantum	Oils Ain't Oils	Reporter	7:44
1999	Quantum	Dying Eyes	Producer, writer, presenter	7:18
1999	Quantum	Baby Skin	Writer, presenter	4:57
1999	Quantum'	Malaria Vaccine	Co-Producer, writer, presenter	5:03
1999	Quantum	Requiem for the Toothfish	Producer, writer, presenter	9:15
1999	Quantum	Planet Hunters	Co-Producer, writer, presenter	9:03
1999	Quantum	Can You Catch a Heart Attack?	Co-Producer, writer, presenter	7:38
1999	Quantum	Electron Man	Writer, presenter	7:54
1999	Quantum	Cosmic Antigravity	Producer, writer, presenter	9:07
1998	Quantum	Troubled Waters	Producer, writer, presenter	10:01
1998	Quantum'	Girl Talk	Writer, presenter	6:08
1998	Quantum	Premature Concerns	Writer, presenter	9:58
1998	Quantum	Roman Lead	Producer, writer, presenter	6:53
1998	Quantum	Thorium Reactors	Writer, presenter	7:17
1998	Quantum	Male Contraceptive	Writer, presenter	5:46
1998	Quantum	Landscape Archaeology	Writer, presenter	9:22
1998	Quantum	Mind's Eye	Writer, presenter	9:40
1998	Quantum	Passing the Bug: The End of Antibiotics?	Co-Producer, writer, presenter	27:30

Independent Documentaries

Year	Film	Role	Notes	Duration
2000	The Diplomat	Producer & Writer	Documentary centred on Nobel Peace Prize-winner José Ramos-Horta and his 24-year struggle to liberate of East Timor from occupation by Indonesia.	Feature 81 mins, other 56 mins

Awards

Year	Category	Awards	Publication/Program	Result	Nominees
2020	Higher Education Journalist of the Year	Universities Australia and National Press Club of Australia	"The Good Earth" in Australian Geographic	Winner	Wilson da Silva
2017	Single Article of the Year	Publish Awards	"The Quantum Gamble" in Ingenuity	Winner	Wilson da Silva
2012	Best App on Mobile or Tablet	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine – iPad edition	Runner-up	Heather Catchpole, Lucy Glover, Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2010	Editor of the Year	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Highly Commended	Wilson da Silva
2009	Magazine of the Year	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2009	Best Consumer Magazine	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2009	Best Digital Engagement Strategy	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	HELLO FROM EARTH	Winner	Wilson da Silva, Dean Turnbull, John Pickerel and Heather Catchpole
2008	Lord Mayor's Sustainability Award	City of Sydney Business Awards	Cosmos Media Pty Ltd	Winner	Kylie Ahern and Wilson da Silva
2008	Environmental Business Award	City of Sydney Business Awards	Cosmos Media Pty Ltd	Winner	Kylie Ahern and Wilson da Silva
2008	Sustainability in Publishing	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	Cosmos Media Pty Ltd	Winner	Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2007	Consumer Magazine of the Year	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	G: The Green Lifestyle Magazine	Winner	Sara Phillips, Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2006	Editor of the Year	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva
2006	Best Opinion Series	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva
2006	Magazine of the Year	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2006	Best Consumer Magazine	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva and Kylie Ahern
2012	Best Publisher	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	Cosmos Media Pty Ltd	Winner	Kylie Ahern, Wilson da Silva and Alan Finkel
2005	Editor of the Year	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva
2005	Best Consumer Magazine Cover	Publishers Australia Excellence Awards	COSMOS Magazine	Winner	Rodney Lochner, Frank Linden and Wilson da Silva
2001	Rudolf Vrba Award	One World Film Festival, Prague	The Diplomat	Winner	Sally Browning and Wilson da Silva
2001	Margrit & Robert Mondavi Prize	California Wine Country Film Festival	The Diplomat	Winner	Sally Browning and Wilson da Silva
2000	AFI Award for Best Documentary	Australian Film Institute	The Diplomat	Winner	Sally Browning and Wilson da Silva
2000	Eureka Prize for Promotion of Science	Australian Museum Eureka Prizes	Science in the Pub	Winner	Robyn Stutchbury, Michael Burton, Paul Willis and Wilson da Silva
2000	Austcare Media Award	Austcare Awards	The Diplomat	Winner	Sally Browning and Wilson da Silva
2000	Bronze Award	International Medical Film Competition	Passing the Bug: The End of Antibiotics?	Winner	Wilson da Silva and Richard Corfield
2000	Golden Maile Award	Hawaii International Film Festival	The Diplomat	Winner	Sally Browning and Wilson da Silva
2000	Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking	Real Life on Film Festival	The Diplomat	Winner	Sally Browning and Wilson da Silva
1998	Medical Research Journalism Award	Australasian Medical Research Journalism Awards	Passing the Bug: The End of Antibiotics?	Highly Commended	Wilson da Silva and Richard Corfield
1997	Human Rights Award for Print Journalism	Human Rights Awards	Australian Financial Review Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva
1996	Michael Daley Award for Science Journalism	Michael Daley Awards for Science, Technology and Engineering Journalism	The Age	Winner	Wilson da Silva
1996	George Munster Award for Freelance Journalism	Australian Centre for Independent Journalism	The Age	Winner	Wilson da Silva
1996	Excellence in Biotechnology Journalism	Amgen Awards	21C Magazine	Winner	Wilson da Silva
1996	Human Rights Award for Print Journalism	Human Rights Awards	The Age	Highly Commended	Wilson da Silva
1992	Journalism Award	Royal Australian Chemical Institute Awards	Reuters	Winner	Wilson da Silva

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References

↑ da Silva, Wilson (February 2009). "Profile of a Science Journalist: Wilson da Silva, Editor of COSMOS". Cosmos . Retrieved 22 July 2014.
↑ "The Equinox Summit: Energy 2030 Team". Waterloo Global Science Initiative . Retrieved 22 July 2014.
↑ "About Us". Cosmos. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
1 2 "Wilson da Silva | Cosmos". cosmosmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
↑ "Speakers". Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
↑ "The Skeptic Zone #245" (Podcast). Richard Saunders. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2014.

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[1] Silva, Wilson (February 2009). "Profile of a Science Journalist: Wilson da Silva, Editor of COSMOS". Cosmos . Retrieved 22 July 2014.

[2] "The Equinox Summit: Energy 2030 Team". Waterloo Global Science Initiative . Retrieved 22 July 2014.

[3] "About Us". Cosmos. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2014.

[Cosmos_Contributor_daSilva-4] 1 2 "Wilson da Silva | Cosmos". cosmosmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.

[5] "Speakers". Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2014.

[6] "The Skeptic Zone #245" (Podcast). Richard Saunders. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2014.

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