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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.
Book
| 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] |
Film/Radio/TV
| 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] |
Magazine/Newspaper
| 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] |
Online
| 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] |
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