19/06/2019

The 2019 IMPA-SBM Journalism Award brings together 82 reports.

The 2019 IMPA-SBM Journalism Award will feature 82 reports submitted from all regions of Brazil. Registration closed on Saturday (15). The award was created by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) and the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM) with the aim of bringing Mathematics closer to society and expanding scientific dissemination in the country.

Entries from 39 media outlets in the Federal District and 12 states are competing for the award: Ceará, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Sergipe, Rio Grande do Norte, and Rio Grande do Sul.

Aimed at reports that present Mathematics and Science in an interesting and original way, provoke reflection on these areas of knowledge and encourage their popularization in Brazil, the award has two categories. In this second edition, 28 works are competing in Mathematics and 54 in Science Communication.

"The goal of the Prize is to contribute to increasing the presence of scientific topics in all media, especially regarding Mathematics, and it is very gratifying to see the excellent reception it is having in the communications community," declared the Director-General of IMPA, Marcelo Viana.

The awards ceremony will be held on July 30th, during the 3Mondays Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium at IMPA in Rio de Janeiro. The list of the five finalists in each category will be published on the IMPA and SBM websites and social media up to 15 days prior. The winners will be announced during the ceremony.

In 2018, the IMPA-SBM Journalism Award brought together 72 works from ten states and the Federal District. Journalists Maria Clara Vieira and Isabela Izidro won 1st place in the Mathematics category with the report " This group only thinks about that ," published in Veja magazine. In the Science Communication category, the winner was Gabriel Alves, with " 50 years ago, Brazil performed its first heart transplant ," a report from the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. The special series " It's in the simplest things in life: Mathematics ," from Jornal Nacional (TV Globo), received the Hors-Concours award.

There was a 12% growth in this second year, even without the incentives from the Mathematics Biennium and the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), as in 2018, the year the award was first launched.

Judging criteria

The award recognizes content published in any media outlet – newspaper, magazine, online portal, blog, television, and radio, among others – between May 16, 2018, and June 15, 2019. The prizes will be identical in both categories: R $ 10,000 and a trophy (winner); R $ 3,000 and a diploma (Mondays place); R $ 2,000 and a diploma (Tuesdays place). Up to two honorable mentions per category will receive diplomas.

In judging, the criteria considered will primarily be the journalistic relevance of the topic, originality, depth, clarity, and quality of the work. The Judging Committee may propose an Hors-Concours award, in recognition of journalists or media outlets, not necessarily registered in the competition, that have made an exceptional contribution to the dissemination of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. The winner will receive R $ 10,000 and a trophy.

More information is available on the website www.impa.br/premiodejornalismo .