Awarded the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications
Today, I am deeply honored to announce that I have been selected as a recipient of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications, in the Graduate Research Scientist Category.
This award is provided by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) in partnership with Schmidt Sciences. This recognition marks a pivotal moment in my career and reaffirms the value of communicating science with clarity, accessibility, and heart.
About the Award
The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award was launched in 2022 as a successor to the longstanding National Academies Communication Award, which began in 2003. While the previous award recognized outstanding contributions in science, engineering, and medicine communication across books, films, print, and online media, the new Schmidt‑branded awards have a refined focus: celebrating creative, original, and impactful science communication by research scientists, science journalists, and communicators.
Now structured into eight subcategories—ranging from graduate student researchers and early-career communicators to seasoned journalists and organizational communicators—the award offers 24 prizes each year.
This award is more than a financial prize. It fosters a diverse community of science communicators—including researchers, journalists, and freelancers—and supports their ongoing professional development. Schmidt Sciences also collaborates with journalistic institutions to provide ongoing training and resources, reinforcing the vision that effective science communication is critical to addressing global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and emerging technologies.
Why This Award Matters
Receiving the Schmidt Award is a profound honor, reflecting that peers and leaders in science communication recognize the significance and quality of your work. This recognition highlights several key values:
Creative Originality – Projects are evaluated on originality in content, format, and delivery. These awards honor those who break new ground in how we tell scientific stories.
Broad Accessibility – The jury seeks communication efforts that resonate with non‑expert audiences—making complex science easy to grasp without losing substance.
Impact on Society – Whether through illuminating public policy, sparking curiosity, or fostering informed decision‑making, awardees have demonstrated work that touches lives meaningfully.
Peer Recognition – The highly competitive selection process draws from a wide pool of entries. To be acknowledged among the winners signifies excellence and influence.
In short, the Schmidt Award is much more than a personal accolade—it is an endorsement of the importance of science communication itself, placing this work on par with scientific discovery and journalistic investigation.