Maldita Ciencia receives the Boehringer Ingelheim Award for Journalism and Health Dissemination for its broadcasts on Twitch

The Boehringer Ingelheim Awards for Health Journalism and Outreach have now been held for 34 years. The pharmaceutical company established them in 1985 «with the objective of promoting and recognizing the work of journalists and the media in disseminating and bringing closer to public opinion the advances that occur in the field of medicine and health«.

The effects of sugar on health, how to deal with anti-vaccine denialism when it affects minors, myths surrounding suicide… are some of the topics that we have discussed in these scientific Twitcherias, always with the help of experts in each subject who help us understand the science behind these issues and their effect on our health, in addition to answering the questions that our community asks us through the chat. 

Both the experts in their respective fields and that loyal community that follows us and participates are the two main keys in these broadcasts. The topics we choose seek to explain current events in their scientific and health aspects or to expand our general knowledge about everyday topics. In this work of journalism as a public service, Twitch serves as a tool for us to reach new communities of users and to incorporate their participation, which is what helps us respond specifically to their questions, being as useful as we can. 

This award is a recognition of this initiative that the entire Maldita.es team started in February and that shortly after we turned it into a regular appointment to do what we know: debunk myths and hoaxes and resolve doubts with the help of experts in each subject.

Other journalistic works have been awarded along with the Malditas Twitcherías:

• In the category of Dissemination in innovation applied to the quality of life of the patient, two publications have won the award: “Birth in the 21st Century ”, by Claudia Reig, a production by Barret Corporativa for the Audiovisual Innovation Laboratory of Spanish Radiotelevision (Lab RTVE). ) and À Punt Mèdia; and “Woman’s body, man’s medicine” by Lara Bonilla together with Ricard Marfà in the design part and Idoia Longan in the programming.
• In the Dissemination category in innovation in animal health, the winner was the report “The mink threatens the development of anti-Covid vaccines” by the head of the science section in El Mundo, Teresa Guerrero, and the editor of the Health area of ​​El World, Cristina G. Lucio.
• In the Dissemination category on sustainability projects that take care of the environment, the report “The not-so-circular journey of domestic waste in Spain” by the coordinator of the climate change and environment section in El País, Clemente Álvarez.
• In the category Best report on advances or projects related to Covid-19 for «A room, a bar and a class: this is how the coronavirus spreads in the air» by the editor-in-chief of Visual Narratives in El País. 

The jury for the awards was made up of Elena Lázaro, coordinator of the Scientific Culture Unit of the University of Córdoba; Gemma del Caño, pharmacist and scientific communicator; América Valenzuela, science journalist; Esther Paniagua, journalist specialized in innovation, technology and science; Sergio Alonso, Health and economics journalist for the newspaper La Razón and member of the National Association of Health Informants (ANIS), and José Fernández-Álava, General Director of the Association of Communication Directors (DirCom).