When Beryl Benderly opened an NASW Jobs List email in 2001, she didn't know it would eventually take her to Mexico, South America, and most recently, up the Panama Canal. Herewith, her lucky tale.
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When you're on a tight deadline, you need information fast. Glennda Chui offers her best advice for finding the people and papers you need. Among her tips: "If all else fails, try directory assistance — either on-line or on the phone — and see if you can get the source's home number. You'd be surprised how many people are listed."
Michelle Trudeau, a correspondent for National Public Radio who has covered mental health, human behavior and brain science for more than two decades, has been awarded the 2004 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting. The prize, for a body of work published or broadcast within the last five years, was created by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, an organization of distinguished journalists and scientists committed to improving the quality of science
NASW member Howard J. Lewis, former editor of <EM>ScienceWriters</EM> and founding member of the International Association of Science Writers, died of cancer Oct. 13 in his Bethesda, Md., home.
At the NASW Annual Meeting in February of 2004, two experts offered their insights in a workshop devoted to freelance contract negotiation. According to Erik Sherman, "The best first thing to do is say, 'I'd like to see your first North American Serial Rights Contract, please,'" while Kraig Baker suggests, "If you want to be successful, your first tactic should be whatever tactic keeps the publisher's lawyer out of it." Thanks to Alan Kelly of Verbatim Instant Transcripts, this transcript.
The National Association of Science Writers, Society of Environmental Journalists and Association of Health Care Journalists have sent a letter to U.S. government officials protesting visa requirements for foreign journalists. The letter was sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge and key members of Congress.
NASW has created a new listserv for discussion of freedom of information issues. The new discussion list is NASW-FOIA. This list is for general discussion of freedom of information issues; any messages posted to the list should be relevant to those topics.
(This is Part 1 of a much-expanded version of an article that is scheduled to appear in the second edition of NASW's A Field Guide for Science Writers, edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig, which Oxford University Press is scheduled to publish next year.)
Do you teach science writing - or do you want to do so? The NASW education committee has created several new resources for people who teach science writing, including an e-mail discussion list called NASW-TEACH and a Web site containing suggestions for classroom exercises and reading lists.