News Release

'The Great Influenza' wins 2005 Best Book Award from The National Academies

Grant and Award Announcement

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

WASHINGTON -- The National Academies today announced the recipients of its 2005 Communication Awards. Part of the National Academies Keck FUTURES INITIATIVE, these prestigious awards recognize excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering, and medicine to the general public. This is the third year the National Academies have given the three $20,000 prizes. The winners will be honored during a ceremony on Nov. 10 at the Academies' Beckman Center in Irvine, Calif.

Selected from 219 print, radio, and broadcast entries, the recipients of the awards for works published in 2004 are:

BOOK
JOHN M. BARRY, author of "THE GREAT INFLUENZA: THE EPIC STORY OF THE DEADLIEST PLAGUE IN HISTORY"
(Viking Penguin), for his sobering narrative about infectious disease and epidemics past and future.

NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE/INTERNET
GARETH COOK, science reporter at THE BOSTON GLOBE, for his compelling reporting on the science and social impacts of human embryonic and adult stem cell research.

TV/RADIO
THOMAS LEVENSON, producer/director/writer, and PAULA APSELL, senior executive producer of WGBH NOVA'S "Origins: Back to the Beginning," for their highly visual and accessible history of the origins and evolution of the cosmos.

"It is an honor to recognize the achievements of these individuals, and the vital role they play in improving the public's understanding of science, engineering, and medicine," said Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. "We hope these awards inspire many others to report clearly and creatively about the world we live in."

A list of finalists for the awards follows.

BOOK FINALISTS:

  • David Goodstein, author of "OUT OF GAS: THE END OF THE AGE OF OIL" (W.W. Norton & Co.)
  • Brian Greene, author of "THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS: SPACE, TIME, AND TEXTURE OF REALITY" (Alfred A. Knopf)

    NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE/INTERNET FINALISTS:

  • Tom Knudson, Edie Lau, and Mike Lee, staff writers, THE SACRAMENTO BEE, for "Seeds of Doubt," a series of articles on genetically altered plants
  • Carl Zimmer, author and freelance writer, for his essays and articles "What Came Before DNA?" and "Whose Life Would You Save?" for DISCOVER magazine; "Those Fall Outfits May be Saving Trees" for THE NEW YORK TIMES; "My Darwinian Daughters" and "The Whale and the Antibody" for CORANTE.COM/THE LOOM

    TV/RADIO FINALISTS:

  • Carlo Massarella, producer/director, WNET Thirteen, "DNA: The Human Race"
  • Jon Palfreman, producer/director, WNET Thirteen, "Innovation: Light Speed"

    The National Academies Keck FUTURES INITIATIVE was created in 2003 to encourage interdisciplinary research and is funded by a 15-year, $40 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation. The initiative also sponsors conferences to bring together outstanding researchers from many fields to pose new questions and share ideas for cross-disciplinary projects.

    The award recipients will be honored during this year's FUTURES INITIATIVE conference, "The Genomic Revolution: Implications for Treatment and Control of Infectious Disease," to be held Nov. 10-13 in Irvine, Calif. The conference will bring together selected scientists, engineers, and medical researchers who specialize in genomics to explore how this field intersects with various disciplines. Conference participants will have the opportunity to compete for grants to pursue new lines of cross-disciplinary research.

    The winners of the communication awards were selected by a committee of nine judges:

  • Barbara J. Culliton (committee chair and member, Institute of Medicine) deputy editor, HEALTH AFFAIRS, Bethesda, Md.

  • David Clark, producer/director, David Clark Inc., Bethesda, Md.

  • Peter Dykstra, executive producer, CNN Science and Technology, Atlanta

  • Samuel C. Florman (member, National Academy of Engineering) chairman, Kreisler Borg Florman Construction Co., Scarsdale, N.Y.

  • Peggy Girshman, assistant managing editor, National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.

  • George Strait, associate vice chancellor, University of California, Berkeley

  • Lubert Stryer (member, National Academy of Sciences) Winzer Professor Emeritus, department of neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

  • Curt Suplee, author, and director of the office of legislative and public affairs, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va.

  • Abigail Trafford, author, and columnist for THE WASHINGTON POST, Washington, D.C.

    Nominations for the 2006 Communication Awards will be accepted beginning Feb. 1, 2006, for work published or broadcast in 2005. For more information on the FUTURES INITIATIVE and the communication awards, please visit www.national-academies.org/keck.

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