The 2020 UNSW Bragg Student Science Writing Competition is now closed, and the winners will be announced in October. Thanks for your amazing entries and look out for the new competition theme in 2021! For updates, sign up to the Careers with STEM newsletter.
2020 theme: The Big Ideas Saving the Planet
What are the solutions that will help us to address global challenges such as catastrophic climate change, global pandemics, severe weather and sea level rise?
From bushfire science using smart satellites and Indigenous knowhow, to vaccine development, citizen science apps tracking insect population decline, and science that literally creates water from air, in 800 words, describe some scientific research that has delivered a solution that you believe could change the future for our planet.
Win a fantastic set of prizes!
The winner will be awarded a $500 UNSW Bookshop voucher and a subscription to the Australian Book Review.
The winning essay will be included in the 2021 edition of NewSouth Publishing’s highly acclaimed anthology The Best Australian Science Writing, where it will appear alongside essays by some of the country’s leading science writers. It will also appear in an issue of CSIRO’s Double Helix Magazine, on CareerswithSTEM.com and on newsouthpublishing.com
Winners and runners up will get the opportunity to attend the Bragg Prize award ceremony and launch of The Best Australian Science Writing2020 in Sydney.
Thinking about entering? Get started with these resources!
The regional and city school with the most entries will win this awesome book pack from NewSouth Publishing. Simply enter as many students from your school as you can for the chance to win these books:
Cosmic Chronicles by Fred Watson
Dr Space Junk vs The Universe by Alice Gorman
Feeding the Birds at Your Table by Darryl Jones
The Best Australian Science Writing 2019 edited by Bianca Nogrady
Read the winners of the 2019 UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing:
William Flintoft (Year 10, Melbourne Grammar School, Vic) explores our increasing reliance on automation and Artifical Intelligence. Read his essay in full here.
Phoebe Adam (Year 8, Presbyterian Ladies College Croydon, NSW) , punctures some of the hype around driverless car technology. Read her essay in full here.
About the UNSW Bragg Student Science Prize
The Bragg Prize is an annual award celebrating the best non-fiction science essay written for a general audience. An initiative of UNSW Press, UNSW Science and Refraction Media, the UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing is designed to encourage and celebrate the next generation of science writers, researchers and leaders. For an aspiring university Dean of Science or Walkley Award-winning journalist, this could be the first entry on their CV.
The Bragg Prizes are named for Australia’s very first Nobel Laureates, the father-and-son team of William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg. 2015 marked the centenary of their Nobel Prize win in Physics for their work on the X-ray analysis of crystal structures. William Henry Bragg was a firm believer in making science popular among young people. His lectures for students were described as models of clarity and intellectual excitement. More information about the Bragg prizes can be found here.
Santa Sabina College first entered the UNSW Bragg Prize in 2018 – coming away with the winning and a runner-up essay that year. We spoke to the teacher driving the school's participation about how they use the competition to challenge and enrich their gifted student cohort.
Are fertility tracking apps backed by science? Does automation really make us safer? Are we ready for driverless cars? Find out in these prize winning student essays
Phoebe Adams of Presbyterian Ladies College was inspired by a family tragedy to explore driverless car technology in her winning essay for the 2019 UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing
Abbotsleigh student Arwyn Stone questions the science (and ethics) behind fertility tracking apps in her winning essay for the 2019 UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing
