Winners of the third ComLab announced

The winning projects were selected by an external jury consisting of Johannes Boie (editor-in-chief of Welt am Sonntag), Alok Jha (science correspondent of the Economist) and Ulrike Winkelmann (editor-in-chief of taz).

The selected works impressed the jury with their original choice of topics and media and their successful interweaving of scientific facts and storytelling.

Cash prizes for the most convincing four submissions went to:

• the journalist Claudia Wiggenbröker and the political economist Alice Amorim for the article and explanation film “Energy poverty: And then the power shuts off”.
• the journalist Sören Kittel and the political scientist Fabio Fornari for their five-part series of articles on the topic of sustainable tourism.
• the journalist Hazel Sheffield and legal scholar Natalia Ruiz Morato for their illustrated feature “How land reform is the secret to long-lasting peace in Colombia”.
• the journalist Jenny von Sperber and the agricultural scientist Khondokar Kabir for the radio feature “Bananas Forbidden”.

The submissions were produced as part of the third Communication Lab for Exchange between Research and Media which was held as a virtual workshop on 4 – 5 June & 11 – 12 June 2021.

Working in collaboration with the International Journalists’ Programmes, the Humboldt Foundation regularly offers ten Humboldt fellows the opportunity to discuss the challenges involved in communicating scientific knowledge and turn ideas they have for science communication into reality in joint projects with journalists. The Communications Lab aims to increase awareness among journalists and researchers of what is expected of one another, what makes for successful collaboration, and what constitutes good science communication.

The next Communication Lab will take place on 5 – 6 November & 12 – 13 November 2021, again in the form of a virtual workshop: This time on the topic of “Smart New Worlds: How AI, Robotics and Digitalisation Transform our Lives”.