NASW offers a wide array of benefits to professional science writers and practitioners in related fields.
ScienceWriters, NASW's quarterly magazine, reports on trends, issues and controversies, news of regional events, and includes practical advice on freelancing, teaching, public affairs, and other professional specialties. The magazine is available in both print and online PDF versions.
NASW's annual workshops, which provide opportunities for both entry-level and advanced training as well as networking.
Job leads. The jobs mailing list offers ~200 announcements per year.
Funding sources. A searchable list of grants, fellowships, and other types of funding for which science writers may qualify.
Educational resources and mentoring programs. More than 300 people have spent a day with a veteran science writer covering a conference.
Several lively (perhaps even contentious) discussion groups.
Members-only sections of the NASW Web site, which include professional development primers and the online roster of all members.
NASW's annual "Science in Society" awards, for outstanding investigative and interpretive reporting about the sciences and their impact. These awards are the only such honors given to science writers by their peers.
Free hosting of your Web site, up to 10 MB. (Not available to student members.)
Insurance. Health, long-term care, vision, and dental insurance are available to NASW members in Connecticut, New Jersey, parts of New York, Greater Chicago including parts of Indiana, California, and Florida through TEIGIT, The Entertainment Insurance Group Insurance Trust. CIGNA Dental insurance is available in most parts of the country. Individual insurance Golden Rule is available in Arizona, Virginia and Texas.
Travel fellowships, including awards to attend the annual ScienceWriters meeting, Van Dam fellowships for travel to the World Conference of Science Journalists, and grants for experience to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings to name a few. Student members are eligible for special travel grants to the annual ScienceWriters meeting as well as the AAAS annual meeting, where NASW conducts education activities like the internship fair and mentoring program.
Access to Elsevier's ScienceDirect , a large database of full-text articles from over 2,500 scientific and medical journals, including Cell and The Lancet, and 11,000 books.
Access to NASW's Funding Sources database, developed by an NASW member to help located sources of funding for writers.
Access to Words' Worth to help improve your freelance business. Here you can report your own experiences and find valuable information from other members about what they did, what they charged, and how it went.
Costs
Memberships are annual and run from January 1-December 31. Applicants are responsible for paying the full annual amount, no matter the date of joining.
U.S. Regular Dues: $85.00
U.S. Student Dues: $35.00
Canada (based on mailing address): $90.00
International Regular (based on mailing address): $100.00
International Student (based on mailing address): $40.00
To join
First, if you have not already done so, register for access to NASW.org as a guest. Once you have done that, you should see a "Become an NASW member" link in the upper right corner of your screen.
Applicants for regular membership must submit five samples of work produced for a lay audience in the past five years. They must include the publication or airing dates for each entry. Also required are the names of two NASW members as sponsor. If you need to find sponsors, try searching our Find a writer section or asking in one of our public discussion groups.
Student memberships are also available for those who are currently enrolled in journalism or science programs, or who are serving as reporters or editors at school newspapers. Student membership is a one-time option, limited to a total of two years. After two years, student members must apply to become regular members. Once a student has become a regular member, he or she cannot return to student status in the event of further matriculation.
For further information, contact:
Tinsley Davis, executive director
Organizer, NASW ScienceWriters annual meeting
P.O. Box 7905
Berkeley, CA 94707
Phone: (510) 647-9500
Become an NASW member now
