09/09/2024

The IMPA Journalism Award ceremony concludes FestMat.

Marcelo Viana, Leonardo Caparroz, Sabine Righetti e Raphael Gomide

Curiosity, good ideas and passion for writing are indispensable characteristics for a journalist, highlighted the winners of the 7th edition of the IMPA Journalism Award , at an awards ceremony held at the National Mathematics Festival (FestMat) , on Saturday (7), at Marina da Glória. The delivery of trophies to the first place winners in each category (Mathematics and Scientific Dissemination) and certificates to the other winners was followed by the round table "Science and Mathematics are news", which concluded the event's program.

Leonardo Caparroz, from Superinteressante magazine, and Mônica Reolom, from TV Globo's Fantástico program, winners of this year's contest, participated in the debate and told the audience about the production process of their respective reports, "In search of true randomness" and " Clinical studies with CAR-T cells bring hope to Brazilian cancer patients ."

“Before you tackle a topic, you need to be passionate about it. In my case, I was motivated to understand how computing overcomes pseudo-randomness to generate truly random numbers. Curiosity about the interdisciplinarity between physics and computing caught my attention, and I became fascinated by this topic,” said Caparroz, who highlighted the long period of research and study that the subject required.

Mônica Reolom spoke about teamwork. The report on the trials of a new treatment for certain types of cancer involved the work of 14 professionals. The Fantástico producer shared information with the audience about the behind-the-scenes of the recording. According to her, the persistent noise of cicadas at the Hospital das Clínicas in Ribeirão Preto (SP) even disrupted the recording of interviews on site. The solution was to incorporate the sound into the report. “What was previously a challenge was added to the story as an inspiring message. Cicadas symbolize renewal, and I think Ana Carolina Raimundi's idea was very clever. She took a detail and incorporated it into the story. In journalism, it's important to have a good idea. To have that 'insight'.”

Marcelo Viana, André Alaniz, Fernanda Chaves, Gleison Barreto, Mônica Reolom, Sabine Righetti e Raphael Gomide

Also participating in the roundtable was science journalist Marília Marasciulo, from Galileu Magazine, who won the IMPA Award in 2021 and third place in 2019 and 2020. She assessed that "curiosity" is what sets journalists apart. "It's a curiosity that's present in everyday life. On a trip to the supermarket, you notice that the price of a chocolate bar has increased significantly, for example. What was the reason? The journalist will investigate that."

"There's so much that Brazil does, and sometimes we lack a bridge. Our work, this Festival as well [is fulfilling this purpose]. We have to bring science in a way that is accessible, but not trivial, not science for science's sake," Marília emphasized.

The chat was moderated by the judges of the IMPA Journalism Prize , Marcelo Viana, general director of IMPA, and Sabine Righetti, researcher at Labjor-Unicamp and founder of Agência Bori.

Mônica Reolom, Marcelo Viana, Sabine Righetti, Leonardo Caparroz e Marília Marasciulo

Awards ceremony

Before the roundtable discussion, Viana explained to the audience that the objective of the IMPA Journalism Prize , created in 2018, is "to encourage mass media to focus on scientific topics, their social and economic implications, and to disseminate scientific knowledge in Brazilian society."

Viana assessed the entries submitted to the competition as exceptional. “Over the years, we have observed an evolution in the quality of the submitted material. This year we truly had a serious selection problem. The two winning entries are incredibly outstanding and do justice to our objective, which is to have high-quality communication, communication done by professionals, transmitting relevant scientific information to society.”

In its 7th edition, the IMPA Journalism Prize has accumulated more than 1,200 entries from different regions of the country. In addition to two trophies for the contested categories, Mathematics and Science Communication, the first-place winners received R$ 10,000 each, and a certificate of award. The 2nd and 3rd place winners also received cash prizes: R $ 5,000 and R$ 3,000, respectively. In total, the competition paid R $ 36,000 to the journalists with selected works. See all the winning reports from this edition here.

Sabine congratulated the winners and emphasized the challenges of writing about mathematics and science for the media. "The way the two winning reports managed to translate such complex knowledge, I think, already made a significant difference," she said.

Also a judge for the Award, Raphael Gomide, press relations coordinator at the institute, considered the promotion of scientific journalism a mission. “I think it’s fundamental to value well-done reporting. When we conceived the award, the idea was to stimulate journalistic production about science and mathematics, to reward those exceptional pieces and to value scientific journalism. So, I think that with the brilliant pieces that were awarded today, this shows that Brazilian scientific journalism is at a very high level. And it’s very relevant for society to have this work.”

Awarded 2nd place in the Mathematics category, Andrea Freitas, from Canal Meio, said that the story came about through the influence of her son. "My son Gabriel is in the 2nd year of high school and is passionate about mathematics, physics, and exact sciences. This interest of his made me ask one day, 'What do people who study mathematics in college do afterwards? Do they become teachers?'" she said.

The report "Calculating the Future" shows how mathematics is an extremely promising field, essential for the new economy, capable of training well-rounded professionals to work in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to oil and gas.