Apply for a 2023 NSWA Career Development Award
Applications are open July 15th – September 1st.
Are you interested in attending a conference or class to advance your science communication career but lack the budget to cover the costs? The Northwest Science Writers Association is here to help. Applications will be open for two Career Development Awards of up to $1,000 from July 15th to September 1st, 2023.
The awards will be given to print, broadcast, or online science communicators who have a primary residence in the states of Washington, Oregon, or Idaho to defray the expenses of attending a training, conference, or class related to the professional development of science communicators. Awards are available for both in-person and remote/virtual events.
The event must be held between September 2nd, 2023 and September 1, 2024. Funds must be used by no later than September 1, 2024. The grant can be disbursed in a maximum of two payments. One invoice with original receipts may be submitted prior to the event to cover expenses incurred in preparation, such as travel and registration fees. A second and final invoice should be submitted within two months of the completion of the event and should include any remaining expenses from the event, such as lodging and meals. The combined total can be up to $1,000.
After the event, recipients must also submit a one-page written meeting report for publication on the NSWA website, or present on their experiences at an NSWA gathering, in person or online.
Applicants must be members of NSWA at the time of application and cannot be current members of the board. To join NSWA, visit https://nwscience.org/join. The completed application must be submitted via email by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday, September 1st, 2023. A subcommittee of the NSWA board of directors will serve as the awards committee. Applicants will be notified of the results by September 15th, 2023.
Examples of meetings, classes, and trainings covered by this award :
- AAAS Annual Meeting
- AHCJ Health Journalism conference
- NASW/CASW Science Writers conference
- American Medical Writers Association
- Digital Safety Courses for Journalists
- Physical Safety and Hostile Environment Training for Journalists
(Recipients will forfeit their NSWA award if they subsequently receive another travel grant for the same conference or meeting.)
TESTIMONIALS
“I applied for NSWA’s career development award when I was launching my career as a freelance climate journalist and looking to establish more contacts with editors and publishers. The award enabled me to attend the Society for Environmental Journalists conference in 2019. I left that conference with new relationships with editors and colleagues who have connected me with work opportunities and given me valuable career advice many times. I would not have been able to sustain my freelance business without help from the people I met at that conference, and I would not have been able to attend that conference without NSWA’s support.” — Jen Monnier, 2019 Recipient
“The NSWA Career Development Award allowed me to go to the National Association of Science Writers meeting in Pennsylvania, where I met other science writing freelancers and attended sessions geared toward how to cultivate a freelance client base and find stories. Those connections helped me to successfully make the career transition from researcher to communicator, and to eventually find the job I have today! If you’re looking for ways to build and improve your science writing career, definitely apply!” — Meredith Fore, 2019 Recipient
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
To be considered for a career development award, applicants must submit:
- Completed application (see Google Form below)
- Letter of interest (see Google Form below). Include a brief discussion of your current work or position and a statement about how the particular meeting is important for your career development (no more than one page single-spaced)
- Resume (email to awards@nwscience.org)
- Work Samples: Include at least two samples of your recent published work. This may include an article, editorial, column, essay, cartoon, photograph, link to video or audio file, websites, or other communications media. Please provide either a PDF or public URL (email to awards@nwscience.org).
Submit all application materials by 11:59 p.m. September 1, 2023 via Google Form and email to the NSWA Awards Committee at awards@nwscience.org.
Send questions to the awards committee at awards@nwscience.org.