Carbon series collaboration part of award-winning strategy

The Inspiring Project in Science Communication award, as part of the Australian Science Communicators conference held in Perth this week, was awarded to the collaborative journalism project of the Australian Science Media Centre.

The AusSMC had partnered with a number of Australian newsrooms, including ACM Agri's seven agricultural mastheads, in late 2023 and early 2024 to produce articles on women's health, fertility, liveability, vaping and carbon farming.

Across the newsrooms, 28 journalists collaborated with 48 scientists and other experts to produce 75 articles, seven videos and 28 infographics for the following five news series:

AusSMC chief executive officer Susannah Eliott said the collaborative journalism project had been a great experience for the team and had achieved more than anticipated.

"We're thrilled to be the inaugural winners of this new award," she said.

"The award is not just for us at the AusSMC but for all the journalists and scientists working together in the newsrooms - they not only embraced the idea but produced some fantastic unique and in-depth content.

"We are very grateful to the Walkley Foundation and the META Public Interest Journalism fund, which supported the project.

"Without this support, the project would not have happened."

ACM agricultural news editor Penelope Arthur said the AusSMC had provided access to quality expert sources, giving the journalists involved with the project confidence to cover the technical subject of carbon farming.

"Partnering with the Australian Science Media Centre on the Carbon Series was an excellent experience for our newsroom," she said.

"We believed this series was an opportunity to not only educate our readers but also our journalists about carbon farming."

News.com.au editor Kerry Warren said their women's health series, About Bloody Time, generated two million page views and "extraordinarily high engagement" across social media platforms.

"The project was a great success and had a significant impact with our audience," she said.

"Our goal was for our content to prompt 20,000 signatures to the petition for a new Medicare Item Number for pelvic pain consultations by the end of the week-long campaign.

"This was achieved in under 30 hours, and the petition attracted more than 50,000 signatures.

"The campaign objective also gained the support of every state health minister and was acknowledged by the federal health minister."