Science Journalism

The Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Science Journalism is awarded to an Australian journalist or journalist team whose work is assessed as having most effectively communicated scientific issues to the public.

For the purposes of this prize, ‘scientific topic’ refers to the full breadth of STEMM – science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

This prize covers short and longform stories in any medium and recognises journalistic reporting that reveals, explains and contextualises scientific topics, particularly emerging issues or matters of public importance.

$10,000

Each entry will be assessed against the below criteria (each criterion carries equal weighting). Judges will also consider the resources available to the entrant/s.

Individuals and teams

The prize is open to individual journalists and teams of up to six people, if the work is the result of a collaborative team effort.

• For individual entries, the entrant may only enter once per year.
  
• For team entries comprising of between two and six individuals, the first listed entrant must be the team leader, and all team members should be listed as entrants in the online entry form. You must describe the contribution of each individual to the entered work and explain why the Eureka Prize should be jointly awarded to the listed individuals. This explanation must be included in the entrant’s statement (see ‘entry materials’ below). statement.

Citizenship

All entrants must be Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents (whether entering individually or as part of a team).

Eligible work

To be eligible for consideration, all entered work must have been:

• First published or broadcast no more than one year prior to the Entry Deadline (i.e. between 15 April 2024 and 14 April 2025); and
• Readily accessible in Australia by subscription, newsstand sales, broadcast or digital access no more than one year prior to the Entry Deadline (i.e. between 15 April 2024 and 14 April 2025).

Work entered in this prize may consist of a single material or a series of related materials that best represent the entrant’s work, up to a maximum of three pieces of material per entry.

All forms of media can be entered except for:

• Collations of work previously published elsewhere.
• Work which is only edited by, and not originally produced by, the entrant(s).
• Books, magazines and whole websites.

Original work adhering to ethical standards

• Entered material/s must be the original work of the entrant. Where content from other sources has been incorporated for purposes of effective coverage of the topic, this must be attributed.
  
• Entered work must adhere to the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics.
  
• Entered work must be based on independent acts of journalism, free from any commercial or corporate interests.
  
• Entrants are required to declare and disclose any requests that have been made for corrections or challenges to the accuracy of the work entered, any claims of plagiarism or defamation that have been made against the work entered, and any published corrections or statements made concerning the work’s accuracy or authorship. This will not necessarily disqualify an entry – transparency is important for the judging process.

Entrants can either enter themselves or be nominated by another person. If an entrant is nominated it is important that they provide input to the documentation supporting their nomination.

The work entered or nominated for this prize may not be entered or nominated for another Australian Museum Eureka Prize in the same year.

Work that has been awarded an Australian Museum Eureka Prize in the past cannot be entered again.

In addition to the prize and category specific conditions of entry all entrants need to comply with the General Terms and Conditions of Entry.

Each entry must include the following information. All information provided will be used by the judging panel to assess the work entered against the assessment criteria.

• Review prize information.
• Register an account.
• Start online entry form from 11 February 2025 (save it in-progress).
• Submit online entry form, including entry materials listed above, by the Entry Deadline, 7pm AEST Monday 14 April 2025. Late entries will not be accepted.