The European Federation for Science Journalism (EFSJ) is excited to announce the judging panel for its 2021 European Science Journalist of the Year 2021 (ESJotY) award, which recognises and promotes excellence and innovation in science journalism across Europe.
The award is presented by the EFSJ, and is part-funded and administered by the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), which has previously hosted the awards since 2014.
This year’s competition will be judged by a carefully selected panel made up of distinguished members of the profession from across the continent, with expertise in a diversity of areas in science journalism.
Meet our judging panel below!
The qualifying submissions, from 10 European countries, have now been circulated to the judges, who will each select their preferred winner and two runners-up. The judges will meet virtually in the next few weeks to present their nominations and vote to decide on the winning submissions.
The winners will be announced in September.
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The Judges
Ben Deighton – SciDev.Net managing editor (UK)
Ben Deighton is the Managing Editor of SciDev.Net, the world’s biggest news service covering science in a development context. Ben is responsible for overseeing SciDev.Net content, ensuring its editorial independence and the quality of articles and multimedia products. Ben is a board member of the Association of British Science Writers. He has been a journalist for over 20 years and worked as a correspondent for Reuters in London and Brussels.
Milica Momcilovic – science journalist and President of World Federation of Science Journalists (Serbia)
Milica Momcilovic holds the position of Editor in the Science Program at the Radio/Television of Serbia (RTS) and writes for the daily newspaper POLITIKA and popular science magazine ELEMENTI. Through her special coverage of international science events and interviews, Milica has obtained a rich experience and strong knowledge of scientific issues and challenges internationally. Milica is the President of World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), a multinational charity dedicated to advancing science journalism and communication through a wide variety of activities with universities, governments, and NGOs, to promote standards and the role of science journalists as key players in civil society and democracy.
Maria Pazi – freelance science journalist and junior researcher (Russia)
Maria Pazi is a graduate of the Faculty of Biology of St. Petersburg State University, former editor of the student newspaper BioTimes. Two-time winner of the Russian national Tech in Media competition (in 2018 and 2019). In 2018,2019 and 2020 was shortlisted for the Rusnano Russian Sci&Tech Writer of the Year award, winning it in 2020. Won the European Scientific Writer of the Year 2020. Participated in judging panels in Russian and international competitions: documentary film festival “Word of Knowledge “, Science PR award “Сommunication laboratory” and “Science loyalty” award for best educational projects.
Stan van Pelt – science journalist (Netherlands)
Stan van Pelt (42) is a science journalist from The Netherlands. He is editor at Vox, the editorially independent university magazine of Radboud University (Nijmegen), and a freelance journalist for Dutch newspapers such as de Volkskrant. Also, he teaches courses in science communication for B.Sc. students in the natural sciences.
Eva Wolfangel – freelance science and tech journalist (Germany)
Eva Wolfangel is a freelance science and tech journalist, a storyteller and feature writer, a speaker and moderator. In 2019/20 she was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT in Boston; in 2018 she was named European Science Writer of the Year. Her focus is on science reporting as well as future technologies, tech ethics, cyber security, virtual reality and neuroscience. Website – Twitter
Chair: Anita Makri – freelance journalist, producer and editorial adviser (UK/Cyprus)
Anita Makri is a freelance writer/journalist, producer and editorial adviser specialising in global development and science in society. She is based in London and has produced stories from Africa, Latin America and South Asia. For several years she held senior positions at SciDev.Net and has worked with numerous journalists, experts and policymakers over 20+ years of experience across media, publishing and research sectors. She teaches an online course on development reporting in science communication at the University of Cambridge, serves on the board of the European Federation for Science Journalism and as an advisor with Global Health Film. Substack/newsletter: WorldWise.
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About EFSJ
The European Federation for Science Journalism (EFSJ) is a non-profit organisation that aims to promote independent, high-quality science journalism across Europe by organising meetings and conferences, setting up cross-border investigative reporting grants, and running awards. The EFSJ supports and stimulates journalists to critically examine, challenge and assess scientific information in a social, cultural, political, ethical and economic context. The EFSJ helps develop and support new business models for independent science journalism and stimulate the debate about the role of science journalism and science communication.
