The deadline is fast approaching for the 2026 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards contest. Entries must be submitted online no later than Saturday, 1 August. Since their inception in 1945, the AAAS Science Journalism Awards have honored professional journalists for distinguished reporting on science for a general audience. The contest is open to journalists worldwide.
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An Invitation to Scribble in the Margins of The Best Science Stories and How They Work. The Open Notebook’s new book The Best Science Stories and How They Work: A Collection with Commentary officially launched on July 21, 2026. You’re invited to scribble in the margins!
Poynter’s PolitiFact launches service providing reliable, engaging health information to consumers and news organizations. “Well Informed” offers social videos and stories backed by research to help people sort out personal health claims.
The Covering Climate Now Academy. Climate change is the defining story of our time, and journalists everywhere need the tools to cover with depth, accuracy, and impact. That’s why Covering Climate Now offers journalists worldwide a free, live, online training program designed to help them tell stronger climate stories across beats and borders.
Why AHCJ is building a Health Editor Help Desk: This fall, the Association of Health Care Journalists will launch a one-year pilot that gives health journalists access to one-on-one consultations with an experienced health journalist. Members will be able to discuss story ideas, sourcing, investigations, records requests, data interpretation, ethics and health policy.
SciLine launches support for journalists on midterm election issues: SciLine has launched a special project ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to help journalists step back from the political back-and-forth and help the public understand what evidence-based research and scientific expertise tells us about major issues.
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Watchdog science journalism: crucial yet precarious work. How do journalists act as watchdogs of science? New qualitative research led by University of Amsterdam media scholar Alice Fleerackers sheds light on the labour intensive nature of watchdog science journalism, a form of critical journalism that scrutinises science.
Scientific American and the Collapse of Science Journalism. “Now more than ever, we need skilled, tough journalists, like Dan Vergano, to cover climate change, pandemics, weaponized artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, genetic engineering and other consequential science stories,” writes John Horgan.
What journalists need to know about a proposal to overhaul federal science funding. A look at how federal scientific research funding has worked for decades, how a proposed rule would increase political control over grantmaking, and how journalists can cover the potential impact on their own communities.
ABSW community assemblies address challenges facing science journalism and communication: As AI rises and broader continuing digital disruption of legacy media continues, the science writing and journalism profession faces issues too great for individuals to solve alone.
‘Craft still matters’: Siri Carpenter on learning from the best science stories. Mun Keat Looi, ABSW member, interviews Siri Carpenter, co-founder of The Open Notebook, about the “Storygrams” format and the future of journalism.
Public Health Journalism: Covering mental health as a public health issue
Media briefing: Community health and infrastructure during a heatwave.
Trauma-informed science communication: A virtual workshop on strategies for inclusive engagement (August 13, 2026)
In 2026, WISSENSWERTE will be held together with the European Conference of Science Journalism (ECSJ) at Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover. Registration for WISSENSWERTE/ECSJ 2026 is now open (October 14-16, 2026)
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Reporter/Senior Reporter at The Transmitter (New York, NY)
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