Fuge wins 2022 Bragg Prize for Science Writing

Lauren Fuge has won the 2022 UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing for her essay ‘Time travel and tipping points’, originally published in Cosmos Magazine.

Fuge’s story transports the reader to the Flinders Ranges outside Adelaide. As she walks the arid landscape, she weaves personal introspection with Earth’s geological history. The essay explains what plate tectonic research has revealed about Earth’s past, about evolution, climate and the seismic shifts we are witnessing in our own geological period.

The winner of the Bragg Prize receives $7000, while two runners-up each receive $1500. Runners-up prizes were awarded to Helen Sullivan for her essay ‘A Syrian seed bank’s fight to survive’ and Olivia Willis for ‘Spillover in suburbia’. These and Fuge’s winning essay will be published alongside the other 27 longlisted entries to the prize in NewSouth Publishing’s annual collection The Best Australian Science Writing 2022 (ed by Ivy Shih).

‘In a world that is rapidly changing and destabilising around us, science writing is needed more than ever—not only to understand and make sense of these changes, but to act as a space in which to explore the different paths our species can now choose to walk,’ said Fuge of her win. ‘My most pressing task as a science writer is to find new and different ways to tell stories about the climate crisis, so it means a lot for this work to be recognised by the Bragg Prize.’

Now in its 12th year, the Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing is presented by NewSouth Publishing for short nonfiction pieces of science writing that have been written for a general audience.

For more information about the prize and this year’s shortlist, visit the NewSouth website.

Category: Awards Local news