PRESIDENT'S LETTER

by Paul Raeburn

Paul Raeburn

I'm happy to use my space in this issue to recognize those who worked so hard preparing for the annual members' meeting, workshops and social events in San Francisco. As Lee Hotz notes in the annual membership meeting minutes, we presented special awards to several former board members who, during their tenure, made outstanding contributions to NASW. NASW works only because our members-most of whom moonlight as writers when not on official NASW business-contribute so much to the organization. Their only compensation is our thanks.

The NASW workshops, held away from the AAAS meeting for the first time, were once again a great success. Thanks to Brian Lavendel and Carol Morton, who worked with Deborah Blum to make that happen. That included finding conference space on the University of California campus in Berkeley when it turned out that there would be no room for us at the AAAS hotel. Thanks to all of the members who organized and participated on the panels-you put together quite a distinguished group. Thanks also to the University of California at Berkeley, especially Bob Sanders, and to Sylvia Wright and Pat Bailey at UC Davis, for help with the workshops.

After those hard days burning up shoe leather in hotel hallways, we were treated to some very nice social events. (Is anyone's boss reading this?) Thanks to Sally Stephens, Lynn Yarris, and their co-conspirators at the Northern California Science Writers Association, who threw a monster party on Sunday night where I'm proud to report that the membership behaved quite properly. There were no arrests, unless Diane McGurgan knows something she isn't telling me. Check out Andrew Skolnick's pixs on the NASW Web site.

Thanks to Mary Miller and her colleagues for a very nice reception and dinner at the Exploratorium, a science museum unlike any other. (And I mean that in a good way.) We used the occasion to present the NASW Science-in-Society Awards and the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for young science journalists. And for the first time, we collected the award-winning articles and reprinted them in a nice booklet put together by Carol Morton and Beryl Benderly. Please take a look at the winning pieces and see if they don't inspire you, as they have inspired me, to work harder in the coming year to write stories that make a difference. Thanks to John Carey, Howard Gleckman, and Steve Wildstrom, my colleagues at Business Week, for administering the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award and judging the entries. Carol Morton, Beryl Benderly, and their judging committees handled chores on the Science-in-Society Award. Thanks also to Steve Hart, who helped devise criteria for judging the Web entries, and to Steve Tally who posted the winners on the NASW site.

Kelli Whitlock and Mariette DiChristina, along with Rick Borchelt, once again put together the mentoring program for students and beginning science writers. It's a tribute to the program, initiated by Rick, that some of this year's mentors had themselves been "mentees" only a few years ago. Thanks for a job well done.

Many others contributed to the success of this year's events. I'm sure I've forgotten to mention some of you, and I apologize.

Thanks, lastly, to my colleagues and friends who serve as NASW officers and board members. It's a pleasure working with you. I know they join me in thanking, above all, Diane McGurgan. As we all know, without her, the entire edifice would collapse.

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Paul Raeburn is a senior writer at Business Week. He can be reached at praeburn@nasw.org.