Meet the Winners 2025

Lifetime Achievement Award - an award to recognise contributions in leadership and service to science journalism or science writing 

Picture: Clive Cookson (right) receives his award from Pallab Ghosh, Science Correspondent BBC News

Awarded to  Clive Cookson, Financial Times Senior Science Writer and formerly Financial Times Science Editor.

Through his lifelong career in science journalism Clive has made an immeasurable contribution to excellence in the field and demonstrates the exact qualities and achievements that the ABSW wishes to acknowledge through its lifetime achievement award.  

Clive has worked as a journalist for his entire professional life, starting out at the Luton Post, moving through the Times Higher Education Supplement, The Times, and BBC Radio, finally joining the FT in 1987.  In this time there are hardly any aspects of science he has not covered expertly, and in 2022 this was recognized through the 'ABSW British Science Journalist of the Year Award'.   

The lifetime achievement award is not just for journalism however, and Clive has made key contributions to good relationships and understanding between scientists and the media through support for the ABSW Media Fellowships scheme for more than 10 years. The ABSW and science journalism community world wide are also indebted to his expert guidance on the steering group of the World Conference of Science Journalists, London 2009, that led to the great success of this key international event.  

Andy Extance, Chair of the ABSW Board

Clive's current and former colleagues also sent their congratulations. 

I am so thrilled to see Clive’s talents and achievements justly recognised with this prestigious award. We all know he is a brilliant writer and journalist, able to consistently dig up and tell amazing stories with precision and elegance but it was not until I began writing for the FT that I got to know him better.

He is everything one could wish for in a colleague: calm, vastly knowledgeable, generous, wise and supportive. I cannot tell you how much I valued his razor-sharp judgment during the pandemic. 

But, in addition to his formidable record as science editor for a global newspaper, he is also a genuinely lovely person: kind, funny and ridiculously modest, with a sense of perspective that is rare in our ultra-competitive profession. 

Congratulations Clive - I look forward to continuing to learn from the best in the business! 

Anj Ahuja, contributing writer at the Financial Times

From first-class Oxford chemist to the FT’s voice of science, Clive Cookson has spent decades translating complexity into clarity—making the frontiers of research accessible to boardrooms, policymakers, and curious minds alike. Despite his 1989 scoop that unleashed the cold fusion frenzy (sorry, Clive!), what stands out most when I reflect on his remarkable career is the calm precision with which he’s illuminated the science shaping our world. Perhaps it’s the chemist’s gift— having a viewpoint that lies between the simplicity of physics and the messiness of biology—that has made his journalism so consistently insightful and enduring.

Roger Highfield, Science Director at the Science Museum Group and Honorary President of the ABSW

For about as long as I can remember, Clive has been FT science coverage. When we were science editors together, he was the peer I saw as my worthiest rival for science & public policy reporting, and when I made the switch to comms at Wellcome, he was a reporter you could always trust to get the kernel of the story, and to tell it straight, helping readers to understand what really mattered about it.

Mark Henderson, former Science Editor, the Times, now Executive Director of Corporate Affairs & Engagement, Wellcome Trust.

Clive last won an ABSW award in 2022 when he was awarded British Science Journalist of the Year, over the years he has won three other awards from the ABSW.

Clive's award was presented by Pallab Ghosh, Science Correspondent at BBC News and former Honorary President of the ABSW.

Dr Katharine Giles Award for best popular article written by a scientist, technologist or engineer - supported by the Dr Katharine Giles Fund

Picture: Jack Gould receives his award from Dorrie Giles mother of Dr Katharine Giles

Jack Goulder, Medical Doctor, NHS

‘A diagnosis can sweep away guilt’: the delicate art of treating ADHD, The Guardian Long Read

Compassionate, careful, informed, thoughtful and graceful. Goulder tackled this contentious topic with originality, heart and humility. 

Feature of the Year – general audience

Picture: Tess McClure (left) receives her award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards Host

Tess McClure, The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?, The Guardian

With beautiful writing, this feature upends conventional thinking about the effects of humans on ecosystems. Clear yet lyrical language, without dumbing down, on what the abandonment of Eastern European villages has meant for nature.

Feature of the Year - specialist audience

Picture: Nisha Gaind (left) receives her award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards Host

Nisha Gaind, After the genocide: what scientists are learning from Rwanda, Nature

Can we create a theory of why and how genocides happen? Written from the field, this is a thoughtful, sensitive investigation into what we have gleaned from the terrible events that took place in Rwanda 30 years ago.

Newcomer of the Year - supported by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)

Picture: Maeve Cullinan receives her award from Jack Neill-Hall, Director of Media and Communications, The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)

The judges wanted to say how impressed they were with the quality of all entries and to note how many of the entrants had been supported by ABSW activities, from summer school to 'meet the editor' sessions, and the Monthly showcase. The ABSW is to be commended for being a place for early-career journalists to flourish.

Maeve Cullinan, Global Health Security reporter, The Daily Telegraph

Grow your own genetically modified mosquito colony – just add water, The Telegraph 

Africa’s ‘Q’ cooks up arsenal of gadgets to fight malaria, The Telegraph 

Can robots unravel the mystery of why bacteria are beating our best antibiotics?, The Telegraph

Strong impartial and engaging journalism including thorough reporting from the field.  

News Analysis of the Year

Picture: Slavea Chankova receives her award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards host

Slavea Chankova, Coming into focus: Researchers are starting to question if ADHD should be seen as a disorder, The Economist 

Well-balanced, elegantly written and pulled the research together clearly. Packed a lot of reporting into a small space, with that human element that can often get missed with analyses.

News Item of the Year

Picture: Robin Andrew's award being received on his behalf by his wife Stephanie along with Dr Suze Kundu, Awards host

Robin Andrews, The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight, Quanta Magazine

Strong journalistic instincts, they took a gamble that really paid off, an original and unique voice.

Opinion Piece or Editorial of the Year 

Picture: Oliver Morton receives his award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards host

Oliver Morton, A place to talk about cooling the Earth, The Economist (The World Ahead supplement)

A genuinely novel point of view on a broad topic that goes beyond research and recommends urgent policy action. The article is well grounded in the legal and regulatory facts — an Op-Ed that could make a difference.

Research Policy or Funding Story of the Year

Picture: Elizabeth Gibney (left) receives her award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards host

Elizabeth Gibney, CERN prepares to expel Russian scientists — but won’t completely cut ties, Nature

Big science, the career prospects of top scientists, and front-page world news at its most intense. Elizabeth spoke to a huge number of the right people and has created a compelling and important story that we have no hesitation in commending.

The Royal Society Audio Award - supported by The Royal Society

Picture: Sandra Kanthal (left) receives awards for her and Natasha Loder from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards host

Sandra Kanthal (left), Natasha Loder (right), Mila’s Legacy, BBC Radio 4

The judges loved the melding of the deeply personal and human story with the pressing scientific questions at the heart of this reporting. Skilfully and sensitively told, the episode unveils the complex ethical and funding considerations at a key frontier of modern medicine.

Steve Connor Award for investigative science journalism - in memory of science journalist Steve Connor

Picture: Rebecca Coombes, Head of Journalism, The BMJ, receives Sophie's award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards Host

Sophie Borland, UK government’s nutrition advisers are paid by world’s largest food companies, BMJ analysis reveals, The BMJ

The sheer scale of data analysed, combined with comprehensive reportage including data and multimedia, makes this piece stand out.

Video of the Year

Picture: (left to right) Kevin Church, Kate Stephens and Victoria Gill receive their award from Dr Suze Kundu, Awards host

Victoria Gill (pictured), Kevin Church, Kate Stephens, Where the Polar Bears Wait, BBC News channel, BBC Iplayer and BBC 2

A great insight into life in Churchill, Manitoba, where people and polar bears co-exist. The fear that Gill and her team experienced while filming when they spotted polar bears was palpable.