Congratulations to Virginia Gewin, winner of the 2025 NASW Diane McGurgan Service Award

This year, the National Association of Science Writers awarded its annual Diane McGurgan Service Award to NASW member Virginia Gewin. NASW president Sandeep Ravindran announced the honor at the annual NASW Membership Meeting, held online on Oct. 22. Gewin, who is a long-time co-organizer of one of the annual ScienceWriters conference’s most popular events, received the award in person at the ScienceWriters2025 Pitch Slam on Nov. 9 in Chicago.

Gewin was recognized by the NASW Board of Directors for more than a decade of volunteer service to NASW, especially her work advocating for freelancers. As the current chair of the Freelance Committee, Gewin has helped keep this committee vibrant and active, supporting its members in creating new programs and events for the NASW community. She also recently assisted in a survey of editors to assess the changing freelance landscape. Gewin was formerly a member of the Programs Committee and has served as a mentor with NASW’s David Perlman Virtual Mentoring Program. In 2023, she organized the ScienceWriters plenary on Indigenous Media Freedom, coordinating with our colleagues at the Indigenous Journalists Association, and assisted with last year’s travel grants for Indigenous journalists.

Thank you, Virginia, and congratulations!

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The NASW Diane McGurgan Volunteer Service Award was established in 2001. NASW member Louis Lerner, who passed away in 2006, wished to show appreciation for then-Executive Director Diane McGurgan and other members whose efforts on behalf of NASW go beyond the call of duty. With more than 200 active volunteers annually, NASW relies on the energy and enthusiasm of members to help shape programming, lead or contribute to projects and programs, or run for the Board. Learn more and get involved.

Founded in 1934 with a mission to fight for the free flow of science news, NASW is an organization of ~2,500 professional journalists, authors, editors, producers, public information officers, students and people who write and produce material intended to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology. To learn more, visit www.nasw.org and follow NASW on LinkedIn and Bluesky.