The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing


The Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing was established in 2012 to recognise excellence in Australian science writing. The annual prize of A$7,000 is awarded to the best short non-fiction piece of science fiction with the aim of a general audience. Two runners up are awarded $1,500 each.
The prize is named in honour of Australia's first Nobel laureates, father and son team William Henry Bragg and Lawrence Bragg. The prize is supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the UNSW Faculty of Science.
An associated anthology, The Best Australian Science Writing collects the best of the year's science writing.

Winners

YearAuthorWorkSourceResultRef.
2012Jo ChandlerFeeling the Heat Melbourne University PublishingWinner
2012Ashley Hay"The Aussie Mozzie Posse"Good WeekendRunner Up
2012Peter McAllister"The Evolution of the Inadequate Modern Male"Australasian ScienceRunner Up
2013Fred Watson"Here Come the Ubernerds: Planets, Pluto and Prague"Star-Craving Mad: Tales from a Travelling AstronomerWinner
2013Gina Perry"Beyond the Shock Machine"Behind the Shock Machine: The Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology ExperimentsRunner Up
2013Chris Turney"Martyrs to Gondwanaland: The Cost of Scientific Exploration"1912: The Year the World Discovered AntarcticaRunner Up
2014Jo Chandler"Tb and Me: A Medical Souvenir"The Global MailWinner
2014Frank Bowden"Eleven Grams of Trouble"Inside StoryRunner Up
2014Peter Meredith"Weathering the Storm"Australian GeographicRunner Up
2015Christine Kenneally"The Past May Not Make You Feel Better"The Invisible History of the Human RaceWinner
2015Idan Ben-Barak"Why Aren't We Dead Yet"Why Aren't We Dead YetRunner Up
2015Trent Dalton"Beating the Odds"The Weekend AustralianRunner Up
2016Ashley Hay"The Forest at the Edge of Time"The Australian Book ReviewWinner
2016Susan Double"Beautiful Contrivances"Orchids AustraliaRunner Up
2016Fiona McMillan"Lucy's Lullaby: Song for the Ages"The Australian Book ReviewRunner Up
2017Alice Gordon"Trace Fossils: The Silence of Ediacara, the Shadow of Uranium"Griffith Review No. 55 – State of HopeWinner
2017Jo Chandler"Grave Barrier Reef"The AustralianRunner Up
2017Elmo Keep"The Pyramid at the End of the World"The AustralianRunner Up
2018Andrew Leigh"From Bloodletting to Placebo Surgery"Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our WorldWinner
2018Jo Chandler"Amid Fear and Guns, Polio Finds a Refuge"UndarkRunner Up
2018Margaret Wertheim"Radical Dimensions"AeonRunner Up
2019Melissa Fyfe"Getting Cliterate"Good WeekendWinner
2019Cameron Muir"Ghost Species and Shadow Places"Griffith ReviewRunner Up
2019Jackson Ryan"How Crispr Could Save Six Billion Chickens from the Meat Grinder"CNETRunner Up
2020Ceridwen Dovey"True Grit"WiredWinner
2020Sarah Waples"Winging It"The Weekend Australian MagazineRunner Up
2020Kirsten Weir"The Year I Broke My Brain"New ScientistRunner Up
2021Kirsten Weir"Covid-19 in Schools: The Perfect Storm"Scientific AmericanWinner
2021Ben Oliver"The Covid Lab Leak Theory"WiredRunner Up
2021Anna Funder"In Praise of the Liberal Arts"The GuardianRunner Up
2021Ceridwen DoveyAlexander Winner
2021Jo Chandler"The Covid-climate Collision"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2021Jackson Ryan"To the Dragon Palace and Back"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2022Lauren Fuge"Time Travel and Tipping Points"Cosmos MagazineWinner
2022Olivia Willis"Spillover in Suburbia"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2022Helen Sullivan"A Syrian Seed Bank's Fight to Survive"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2023Nicky Phillips"Trials of the Heart"NatureWinner
2023Jo Chandler"Buried Treasure"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2023Amalyah Hart"Model or Monster"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2024Cameron Stewart"Heroes of Zero"The Weekend AustralianWinner
2024Dyani Lewis"The World's Oldest Story Is Flaking Away. Can Scientists Protect It?"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2024Amanda Niehaus"Dog People"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2025Tabitha Carvan"The Unexpected Poetry of PhD Acknowledgements"UnspecifiedWinner
2025Angus Dalton"The Night I Accidentally Became a Corpse Flower's Bedside Manservant"UnspecifiedRunner-up
2025James Purtill"Air Conditioning Quietly Changed Australian Life in Just a Few Decades"UnspecifiedRunner-up