Martin Ince: “Awards are open to all writers and journalists”
“We want an important story”, says Martin Ince. “Exclusivity never does any harm, but a new way into a running story is equally valid.”
Article initially published on 10 January 2024. Updated on 19 January 2026.
Martin Ince, Chair of the Judging Panel for this year’s ABSW Awards, shared some tips and insights which we hope people who wish to enter will find useful. Ince, a freelance science and education writer, media adviser and media trainer, commented on past awards: “The hundreds of high-quality entries we received for these awards prove that the UK and Irish science writers are an energetic, innovative, and talented community. Many of the categories had more than one entry, which would have been a deserving winner.” Now it is your turn to try.
1. Who can submit their work?
These Awards are open to all writers and journalists, not just to those with words like “science” or “technology” in their job titles. And I’d like to remind our Irish colleagues that these are the British and Irish Awards, and are not exclusive to the UK.
In addition, we would like to see more entries from both nations’ local and regional media, whether from a high-technology local news channel or the old-fashioned local paper.
The judges also appreciate the difference between a mass-circulation morning newspaper and, perhaps, a serious weekly magazine. Entries from more popular media will be particularly welcome.
2. Why enter?
First, there is money in it if you win. Also, preparing your entry will make you cast a critical eye over your work for 2025. What might you have done better? Next, winning will give you prestige with your present boss, a good line when you ask for a pay rise, and a strong point for your CV as your career progresses. And most importantly, it might help you persuade your parents or your partner that this bizarre occupation you have taken up is a real job in a real profession, backed by a professional organisation with great awards.
3. What are judges looking for?
We want an important story, told in a way that is appropriate to the format. A long podcast, say, hits the listener in a very different way from a news story. Exclusivity never does any harm, but a new way into a running story is equally valid. And entries must be largely about science and technology. This may seem obvious, but what we mean is that, for example, we want entries about interesting medical research, but not on health service delivery.
The judges will be working with a grid of quality criteria such as originality, balance, and even entertainment value. These may seem like a formidable set of fences to jump. But in practice, they probably look very much like the questions you ask about a piece of work before its publication.
As you might expect, the judges are especially interested in science and technology that changes lives, across a broad front from new epidemic diseases to the latest climate change conference. But we know that readers, viewers and listeners are also fascinated by stories of no apparent utility that change people’s understanding of the universe. Just look at the huge public interest in images from the surface of Mars, in discoveries from CERN, or indeed in the public response to news of humanity’s extinct ancestors.
4. What topics could be highlighted?
One aspect of science and technology coverage that I’d like more of in these Awards is the experience of research as a human activity. What is the working life of a scientist like? It is hard for a non-scientist to visualise how science is done unless we tell them. I regard it as a key part of the picture that we are trying to paint with our writing, even when the story does not always show science and scientists in a wholly positive light. Note too that our Dr Katharine Giles Award exists to encourage scientists to tell their own science stories.
Finally, the current concern with issues such as AI and electric vehicles highlights the fact that much world-altering research is now carried out by businesses. These organisations naturally have their own ways in which they want to communicate, and can be a lot less open than universities or government labs. We would be pleased to see more stories that jump this barrier.
