Science Communication Competition 2019 – Winners Announced

We are pleased to announce the winners of our Science Communication Competition 2019. Now in its ninth year, the competition attracts entries from all over the world which are reviewed by our panel of expert judges. The competition asks entrants to create an engaging, creative article or video explaining biomolecular topics to the general public. More information about the competition can be found on our website.

The first prize entries to the competition will be published on the Society’s website and featured in the August issue of The Biochemist. The second prize winners will be published in the October issue and the third prize winners in the December issue.

Judy Sayers, first prize winner in the written category, said: “I am really thrilled to have won first prize in the science-writing competition. I am delighted to have this opportunity to add my own whimsical little contribution to such an important and ongoing debate! I would like to extend my thanks to the Biochemical Society, and I look forward to honing my science communication skills and sharing more scientific tales in the future.”

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The 2019 Science Communication Competition winners in the written category are:

1^st Prize: Judy Sayers from University of Cambridge, with a poem on the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in human embryos titled A Tale of Two Twins.

2^nd Prize: Patrick Shearer from University of Glasgow, with a fictional narrative on HIV titled Fighting For Your Life.

3^rd Prize: Katie Ember from University of Edinburgh, with a non-fiction piece on GMO and non-GMO food titled Apples is apples, unless they’re not.

The 2019 Science Communication Competition winners in the video category are:

1^st Prize: Emily Armstrong from University of Glasgow, with a video on plant biology and how Brexit is changing our food supply.

2^nd Prize: Louise McAteer from Trinity College Dubline, with a video on energy metabolism.

3^rd Prize: Amber Barton from University of Oxford, with a video on the pathogenesis of typhoid fever.

When notified of her first prize win in the video category, Emily Armstrong said: “I am absolutely blown away by being awarded first prize for my video to the Biochemical Society. It’s so important the public understands how and why we study plants, as our entire society is built on plants as both food and fuel. Plant scientists must effectively communicate that our reliance on plants is universal, and we need do everything we can to understand them.”

Congratulations to all the winners!

The full shortlist of entries that made it through to the final judging round can be seen below:

Emily Armstrong	Getting to the Root of the Matter (VIDEO) and ‘Where’s the Lettuce? Food, Climate Change, and Brexit’	University of Glasgow
Ester Pascual Baixauli	Is it time to bin the vaccines?	The Open University
Amber Barton	The Adventures of Salmonella Typhi	University of Oxford
Alexis Bick	Can genetics help customise a cure to all diseases?	University of Cape Town
Katie Ember	Apples is apples, unless they’re not	University of Edinburgh
Madeleine Iafrate	Living Drugs: Hope or Hype?	King’s College London
Louise McAteer	How Do We Make Energy from Food, Anyway?	Trinity College Dublin
Claire Noble	Simplifying the machinery of life	University of Bristol
Judy Sayers	A Tale of Two Twins	University of Cambridge
Patrick Shearer	Fighting For Your Life	University of Glasgow
Natalia Voronina	A very fairy tale about very real events in the Cancer Kingdom	German Cancer Research Center
Ryan Wallis	The Rime of the Plastic Waster – How Can We Make Biomedical Research More Sustainable?	Queen Mary University of London
Oliver Watts	The Lie of the Little Green Men: Concerning Extraterrestrial Life	Queen Mary University of London