Our Max Perutz Science Writing Award is now in its 21st year. To help 2018 entrants, Isabel Harding shares science writing tips from last year’s winner and runners-up, along with comments from the judges on why their articles made the cut. This year’s competition closes on 4 July.
Humanise your research
Nadine Mirza, our third runner-up from the University of Manchester, learnt how to make her work more accessible: “I definitely learnt how to simplify what I’m doing as best as I can, and disseminate it to a more lay audience. This entire experience taught me to humanise it, to make it more accessible because at the end of the day the general public are the people being affected and impacted by the research, so if they don’t understand it, well that’s not really fair is it.”
Balance narrative and fact
Getting the right balance means you draw your reader in right from the start. This is something the judges felt that Nadine did particularly well: “An enchanting piece in which Nadine’s character shines through. She explains clearly why changes are needed to a routine test for diagnosing dementia, that are unbiased by language or culture, to prevent incorrect diagnoses. It’s a strong article that balances narrative and fact, and draws the reader in right from the start.”