The Boehringer Ingelheim Awards for Journalism and Outreach in Health have now reached their 34th edition. The pharmaceutical company established them in 1985 “with the aim of promoting and recognising the work of journalists and media outlets in disseminating and bringing to the public the advances taking place in the fields of medicine and health”.
The effects of sugar on health, how to address anti-vaccine denialism when it affects minors, myths surrounding suicide… these are just some of the topics we have covered in these scientific twitcherías, always hand in hand with experts in each field who help us understand the science behind these issues and their impact on our health, as well as answer the questions raised by our community through the chat.
Both the experts in their respective fields and the loyal community that follows and takes part are the two main pillars of these broadcasts. The topics we choose aim to explain current affairs from a scientific and health perspective or to broaden general knowledge about everyday issues. In this public service journalism work, Twitch serves as a tool to reach new user communities and to incorporate their participation, which helps us respond specifically to their questions and be as useful as possible.
This award recognises an initiative that the entire Maldita.es team launched in February and that we soon turned into a regular appointment to do what we do best: debunk myths and hoaxes and resolve doubts with the help of experts in each subject.
Other journalistic works were also recognised alongside the malditas twitcherías.
- In the category Divulgación en innovación aplicada a la calidad de vida del paciente, two publications received the award: “Parir en el Siglo 21”,by Claudia Reig, a production by Barret Corporativa for the Audiovisual Innovation Laboratory of Radiotelevisión Española (Lab RTVE) and À Punt Mèdia; and “Cuerpo de mujer, medicina de hombre” by Lara Bonilla, with Ricard Marfà in charge of design and Idoia Longan responsible for programming.
- In the category of Outreach in Innovation in Animal Health, the winning report was “El visón amenaza el desarrollo de vacunas anti-Covid” by Teresa Guerrero, head of the science section at El Mundo, and Cristina G. Lucio, journalist in El Mundo’s Health section.
- In the category of Outreach on Sustainability Projects that Care for the Environment, the award went to the report “El viaje no tan circular de los residuos domésticos en España” by Clemente Álvarez, coordinator of the climate change and environment section at El País.
- In the category of Best Report on Advances or Projects Related to Covid-19, the award was given for "Un salón, un bar y una clase: así contagia el coronavirus en el aire" by the editor-in-chief of Visual Narratives at El País.
The awards jury was made up of Elena Lázaro, coordinator of the Scientific Culture Unit at the University of Córdoba; Gemma del Caño, pharmacist and science communicator; América Valenzuela, science journalist; Esther Paniagua, journalist specialised in innovation, technology and science; Sergio Alonso, health and economics journalist at La Razón and board member of the Asociación Nacional de Informadores de la Salud (ANIS); and José Fernández-Álava, Director General of the Asociación de Directivos de Comunicación (DirCom).