The SCANZ Awards

The SCANZ Excellence in Science Communication Award

This award - which as of 2023 includes a $1500 cash prize - is celebrated biennially by the Science Communicators Association of New Zealand to recognise outstanding communication of science to a non-scientific audience.

2023 Finalists

The finalists for the 2023 SCANZ Excellence in Science Communication Award are:

• Tūhura Tuarangi - Aotearoa in Space for their hands-on science communication inspiring understanding in young people and their whānau about Aotearoa New Zealand’s long history of living by the stars.

• The Lakes380 Team for their work to understand the past and present health of lakes in Aotearoa to better plan for their future.

The judging panel was highly impressed with the Lakes380 project. Information was shared in many different ways to suit audiences, and relationships were developed with relevant locals such as mana whenua.

The judges admired Tūhura Tuarangi for its excellent use of hands-on activities to help explain core science principles. There was a clearly defined and targeted audience, but effective adaptation of the programme for each community visited.

It was another very close call this year, since both projects were highly successful at engaging and informing their target audiences. 

2023 Winner

Congratulations to the Lakes380 Team! This team won due to to the way they adapted methods of information sharing to suit their identified audiences, and with inclusion of innovative techniques such as virtual reality. SCANZ were especially impressed with the relationship developed with relevant locals such as mana whenua, and their strong efforts to assess engagement produced by this project. You can find out more about the project at their website. Congratulations to the whole team.

About the Award

The SCANZ Award will be presented to any individual or team that have undertaken a science communication project and can demonstrate its success. The project can be from any area of science communication, for example, sharing information about a research project or results, building awareness of a scientific topic or concept, engaging a community to undertake a scientific project, or encouraging students to continue study in a scientific field.

The award will be judged on the quality of explanation of scientific concepts, how interest is captured, the relevance to and style of communication for the intended audience, and the delivery against identified objectives. In general, the project must have demonstrated that the chosen audience was engaged and gained a better understanding of an aspect of science and/or the role and importance of science in Aotearoa New Zealand or globally.

Entries must include a description of the project and results attained and may also include a portfolio of communications materials (written or audio visual) to demonstrate delivery of the project.

• Any Aotearoa New Zealand-based individual SCANZ member, or team where one or more individuals are SCANZ members, is eligible to enter the awards. There are no restrictions on length of membership.

• The chosen project must have been completed in the 2 years prior to the closing date.

• A selection committee will assess all entries and determine award recipients based on submitted information only.

• Awards will be presented at an event to be decided by SCANZ.

The SCANZ Emerging Science Communicator Award

This award, a new addition for 2023, aims to recognise those science communicators near the beginning of their sci-com journey. The prize includes $500 cash and a complimentary registration to the 2023 SCANZ conference (including to the conference dinner).

2023 Finalists

The finalists for the 2023 SCANZ Excellence in Science Communication Award are:

• The 86b science podcast by Max Balloch. Our judges thought Max showed real gumption in creating something truly novel, with excellent narrative and storytelling.

• Collective storytelling as a freshwater restoration tool by Kati Doehring. A spectacular application, where Kati worked with freshwater restoration communities to communicate and encourage sustainable freshwater management using the power of storytelling.

• Te Mātauranga o te Rongoā - The Science of Medicines by Karyn Maclennan. The judges called this an impressive project with a well-defined audience and kanohi ki te kanohi engagement, directed to an important and worthy area of science communication for Aotearoa. See more at the Science Learning Hub.

As with the Excellence Award, this was a very close call and the judging panel found it tough to decide, especially with so many highly motivated emerging science communicators coming through in Aotearoa.

2023 Winner

Congratulations to the Cawthron Institute’s Kati Doehring! She won with her very impressive application, detailing a grand and ambitious project well carried out, with targeting of specific relevant audiences and a variety of impactful outputs. You can read more about Kati’s work at Our Land and Water. Congratulations!

ABOUT THE AWARD

The SCANZ Emerging Science Communicator Award will be presented to an individual that has undertaken a science communication project and can demonstrate its success. The project can be from any area of science communication, for example, sharing information about a research project or results, building awareness of a scientific topic or concept, engaging a community to undertake a scientific project, or encouraging students to continue study in a scientific field.

Past WINNERs (Excellence In Science Communication Award)

2021

The Environmental Reporting Team at Stats NZ and the Ministry for the Enviromment, entered by Drew Bingham, was the 2021 winner. The team won due to the wide variety and large numbers of audiences they reached, through going above and beyond what is normally required of environmental reporting and setting a precedent for improving future reports’ relevance and engagement.

The team have decided to donate their prize money to The Sir Peter Blake Trust, because, in Drew’s words, “their focus on empowering the next generation aligns strongly with the goals of our reporting”.

2019

Julian Thomson was the 2019 winner for GeoTrips. Geotrips, an initiative led by Julian and supported by GNS Science, aims to enable people of all backgrounds and abilities to visit interesting rock outcrops, geological displays or landforms in Aotearoa, as well as make their own geological explorations and discoveries.

“I'm just so chuffed to win this. It really means a lot to me. I've been part of many great science communication projects but GeoTrips has always been my 'baby'. It's really great to see it validated in this way, and it's given me the motivation to keep growing it and helping to develop it into a fully fledged digital platform.

“I also couldn't have got it this far without all the local knowledge from other geologists - they have done fantastic work on this, so a lot of credit goes to them as well for their enthusiastic support and contributions.”

2017

Damian Christie — Damian won the 2017 Award for his hugely popular YouTube series, “Jamie's World on Ice”.

“It was an honour to win the SCANZ award. As a relative newcomer to science communication it felt like a welcoming into the community, as well as validating the hard work I’d done on “Jamie’s World On Ice” from a scicomm perspective.

“Applying for the award gave me the opportunity to think more theoretically about the work I’d done, and gave me the boost I needed to apply for the Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize later that year. Sure the PM’s trophy is bigger, but the SCANZ award came first and I’ll always appreciate that!”

2015

Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA) — LAWA was the winner of the inaugural SCANZ Excellence in Science Communication Award in 2015. LAWA shares scientific data to connect New Zealanders to our environment. Find out more: www.lawa.org.nz.