Harrison Howe Award

Harrison Howe Award The Harrison Howe Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in scientific communication, editorial leadership, and public engagement across research disciplines. Established to honor the legacy of a prominent science editor, the award bridges journalism, scholarly publishing, and institutional outreach by celebrating individuals and organizations that shape public understanding through editorial stewardship, translation of complex research, and sustained influence on discourse. Recipients span newspapers, magazines, university presses, research institutes, and multimedia platforms.

History

The award was conceived during discussions among editors at Science (journal), Nature (journal), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the late 20th century, inspired by the editorial career of a noted editor who had worked at The New York Times, Scientific American, and Harper's Magazine. Early patrons included leaders from Columbia University Press, Oxford University Press, and the National Academy of Sciences, who sought to formalize recognition comparable to the Pulitzer Prize and Kavli Prize. The inaugural ceremony took place at a symposium co-hosted by The Royal Society and American Chemical Society, featuring keynote addresses from figures associated with MIT Press, Princeton University Press, and the Wellcome Trust. Over time the award has been presented at venues including Smithsonian Institution galleries and the Library of Congress alongside conferences organized by AAAS and the European Research Council.

Criteria and Eligibility

Eligible candidates include editorial leaders and communicators affiliated with institutions such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, BBC News, NPR, Reuters, Associated Press, university presses (e.g., Harvard University Press), and nonprofit outlets like The Conversation (website). Nominations come from organizations including American Library Association, PEN America, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, and professional societies such as American Society of Magazine Editors and Association of British Science Writers. The evaluation emphasizes sustained editorial achievement over innovation, impact on readership at institutions like Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and Yale University, and contributions to public discourse reflected in platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and public lectures at TED. Eligibility excludes individuals solely holding academic titles without demonstrable editorial output at outlets such as Nature Communications or PLOS. Submissions must document work published with entities like Wiley, Springer Nature, or Elsevier and demonstrate measurable effects through citations tracked by Web of Science and multimedia reach measured by analytics tied to organizations like Comscore.

Selection Process

A multidisciplinary jury convened annually includes editors and scholars from institutions such as The Economist, Time (magazine), The Washington Post, University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley, and representatives from foundations like Rockefeller Foundation and Gates Foundation. The shortlisting phase is coordinated by administrators affiliated with National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation and draws advisory input from panels of practitioners at Nature Medicine, Cell (journal), and The Lancet. Nominees are scored on criteria modeled on award frameworks like the MacArthur Fellowship and the Right Livelihood Award: editorial quality, originality, audience reach, and influence on policy debates in venues such as United Nations forums or testimony before committees in United States Senate. Final decisions may be ratified at meetings hosted by Royal Institution or at annual conferences of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

Notable Recipients

Recipients have included senior editors and communicators previously affiliated with outlets and organizations such as The New York Times, Nature (journal), Scientific American, BBC, NPR, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, The Times (London), Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and research institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Salk Institute, and Broad Institute. Individual awardees have come from backgrounds that include editorial leadership at Wired (magazine), investigative projects with ProPublica, multimedia storytelling at National Geographic, policy translation at Brookings Institution, and science outreach at Smithsonian Institution and American Museum of Natural History. Honorees often collaborate with organizations such as Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Wellcome Trust to expand public engagement programs.

Impact and Legacy

The award has influenced standards at publications including Nature, Science Advances, and PLoS ONE by promoting editorial practices that favor transparency, peer review clarity, and accessible exposition. It has catalyzed partnerships among institutions such as UNESCO, European Commission, and World Health Organization to support communication initiatives and funded fellowships hosted by Columbia Journalism School and Knight Foundation. Winners have driven reforms in editorial policy at legacy outlets like New York Magazine and emerging platforms like Vox and have inspired curricula at universities including University of Oxford and Stanford University that integrate science communication into graduate training. The award's corpus of lectures and essays, often archived with Library of Congress and disseminated via Project Syndicate, continues to shape discourse at the intersection of scholarship and public readership.

Category:Science communication awards