The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing

The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing was established in 2012 to recognise excellence in Australian science writing. The annual prize of A$7,000 is awarded to the best short non-fiction piece of science fiction with the aim of a general audience. Two runners up are awarded $1,500 each.

The prize is named in honour of Australia's first Nobel laureates, father and son team William Henry Bragg and Lawrence Bragg.^[1] The prize is supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the UNSW Faculty of Science.

An associated anthology, The Best Australian Science Writing (NewSouth Publishing)^[2] collects the best of the year's science writing.

Winners

2012: Winner of the first prize was Jo Chandler, for her piece "Storm front", an excerpt from her book Feeling the Heat (MUP 2011).^[3] The runners up were Peter McAllister, for his article "The evolution of the inadequate modern male" in Australasian Science^[4] and Ashley Hay, for her feature article "The Aussie Mozzie Posse" in the Good Weekend^[5]
2013: Winner of the first prize was Fred Watson, for his piece "Here come the ubernerds: Planets, Pluto and Prague" from his book Star-Craving Mad: Tales from a travelling astronomer (Allen & Unwin).^[6]^[7] The runners up were Gina Perry, for "Beyond the shock machine", an excerpt from Behind the Shock Machine: The untold story of the notorious Milgram psychology experiments (Scribe)^[8] and Professor Chris Turney for his piece "Martyrs to Gondwanaland: The cost of scientific exploration", an excerpt from his book 1912: The year the world discovered Antarctica (Text Publishing)^[9]
2014: Winner of the first prize was Jo Chandler, for her piece "TB and me: a medical souvenir" (The Global Mail).^[10] The runners up were Frank Bowden, for "Eleven grams of trouble" (Inside Story)^[11] and Peter Meredith, for "Weathering the storm" (Australian Geographic)^[12]
2015: Winner was Christine Kenneally, "The past may not make you feel better" (from The Invisible History of the Human Race, Black Inc.) with runners up Idan Ben-Barak, "Why aren't we dead yet" (from Why Aren't We Dead Yet, Scribe) and Trent Dalton, "Beating the odds" (The Weekend Australian)
2016: Winner was Ashley Hay, "The forest at the edge of time" (The Australian Book Review) with runners up Susan Double, "Beautiful contrivances" (Orchids Australia) and Fiona McMillan, "Lucy's lullaby: Song for the Ages"^[13]
2017: Winner was Alice Gordon, for "Trace Fossils: The silence of Ediacara, the shadow of uranium", first published in Griffith Review No. 55 – State of Hope.^[14] Runners up were Jo Chandler for "Grave Barrier Reef" and Elmo Keep for "The Pyramid at the end of the world".^[15]
2018: Winner was Andrew Leigh, for "From bloodletting to placebo surgery", an excerpt from his book Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World (Black Inc.). Runners up were Jo Chandler for "Amid fear and guns, polio finds a refuge" (Undark) and Margaret Wertheim for "Radical dimensions" (Aeon).^[16]
2019: Winner was Melissa Fyfe, for "Getting cliterate", a profile of clitoris researcher Helen O'Connell (urologist), first published in the Good Weekend magazine. Runners up were Cameron Muir for "Ghost species and shadow places" (Griffith Review) and Jackson Ryan for "How CRISPR could save six billion chickens from the meat grinder" (CNET).^[17]
2020: Winner was Ceridwen Dovey, for "True Grit", first published in Wired. Runners up were Ricky Finch for "The Case of the Missing Frogs" (The Australian) and Konrad Marshall for "Jeepers Creepers" (Good Weekend magazine).^[18]
2021: Winner was Ceridwen Dovey, for "Everlasting free-fall", first published in the app, Alexander.^[19]
2022: Winner was Lauren Fuge, for "Time travel and tipping points", first published in Cosmos Magazine.^[20]
2023: Winner was Nicky Phillips, for "Trials of the Heart", first published in Nature. Runners up were Jo Chandler for "Buried Treasure" and Amalyah Hart for "Model or Monster".^[21]
2024: Winner was Cameron Stewart, for "Heroes of Zero", first published in The Weekend Australian. Runners up were Dyani Lewis for "The World's Oldest Story is Flaking Away. Can Scientists Protect It?" and Amanda Niehaus for "Dog People".^[22]