Science journalism winners at the Student Publication Association Awards 2026
Victoria Travers of Durham’s Palatinate won the Best Science Piece award, and The Boar won the Best Science Section award. By Anoushka Sinha
Winners of the Student Publication Association National Awards 2026. (Credits: SPA)
On March 28th, student journalists from across the country gathered to celebrate their achievements over the last year. Hosted by the University of East Anglia (UEA), the Student Publication Association’s National Conference 2026 (SPA, SPANC26) featured talks from the likes of Miryam Moshiri, Chief Presenter at BBC News, and Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic Editor of The Guardian.
The ABSW sponsored two of the awards presented: Best Science or Tech Piece and Best Science Publication or Section. The former was judged by me, and the latter by ABSW board secretary Deborah Cohen.
As the ABSW board’s student representative, I had the honour of presenting the awards as well.
The winner of Best Science or Tech Piece was Victoria Travers of Durham’s Palatinate, for her piece ‘Inside COP30: What this year’s summit looked like and the part Durham played’. The article was described as “well researched and extremely relevant”. It features critical analysis of Durham University’s role at COP30 and whether it upholds its core values.
Jennifer O’Neill, of Manchester’s The Mancunion, was highly commended for this award for her article ‘Be part of research: How clinical trials can change your life’. This piece particularly stood out for being on a topic we don’t often talk about – why should people take part in clinical trials? The research that went into this piece shone through in the clear impact it had on readers.
Victoria Travers of Durham’s Palatinate, winner of Best Science or Tech Piece.
Jacob Robison receives the award in the name of Jennifer O’Neill, of Manchester’s The Mancunion, highly commended for Best Science or Tech Piece.
Sanjana Iyer of The Boar, the University of Warwick, accepted the award for the Best Science Publication or Section on behalf of the publication.
Roar News of King’s College London was highly commended for the Best Science Publication or Section.
The winner and highly commended for the Best Science Publication or Section were, respectively, The Boar of the University of Warwick, and Roar News of King’s College London.
The SciTech team at The Boar is made up of Editor Georgia Carwardine, Sub Editor Henry Brooks, and Deputy Editors Elli Magliulo and Olivia Mills.
The Boar features “interesting well written articles, with some connection with the university, others on issues of interest to the students”. It has a “good range including news, features and opinion pieces”.
The SciTech section of The Boar has seen a substantial increase in its output over the last year. It has published impactful articles on topics ranging from talks that STEM students could attend to the dangers of weight loss medication.
Roar News has a relatively new Science and Technology Section, with only one Science Editor, me. It was decided with the SPA’s approval that to avoid conflicts of interest, I would judge one award (best piece) while entering Roar in the other award (best section), to be judged by Deborah.
Roar News was described by Deborah as having “lots of well written news articles on a range of topics” and “great connection with their university’s research”.
The ABSW has been a proud sponsor of the SPA for many years now, and we are excited to see where the work of these student journalists takes them next.
