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Tomorrow, we celebrate their ideas, their voices and everything they may write next. #YSWA2026

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🌟 Highly commended Saatchi Shah | Chalfonts Community College. Tzvia Tabor | The King David High School. Blake Shotbolt Thomson | St Bartholomew’s School. Albert Watson | The Bridge Academy.

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🌟 Highly commended Evie Howard | St Aidan’s Church of England High School. Eva O’Neill | Archbishop Blanch. James Matthew Wilson Reed | Freman College.

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🌟 Highly commended Yavindi Yuhansa Singappuli Arachchilage | Lliswerry High School. Madeleine Chesher | Aberdeen Grammar School. Kat Elloway | Roundhay School.

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🏆 Winner Adrian Derek Dredge | Great Western Academy. 🥈 Runners-up Seren Poppy Marchant | The Charter School North Dulwich. Ralph Sealey | West Exe School.

📣 So, let's meet them....

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✨ ONE DAY TO GO ✨ Tomorrow, our 13 finalists will gather for the Young Science Writer Award Ceremony 2026. Today, the spotlight belongs to them: one winner, two runners-up and ten highly commended writers whose curiosity, rigour and creativity brought them to the final.

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💡 Jeff O’Brien, who co-founded and funds the award with ABSW Chair @alexobrienuk.bsky.social, will speak about their mission to widen participation in science communication. Tomorrow: meet all 13 finalists and discover their essay titles. #YSWA2026 🌟🌟

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🏆 BBC News correspondent and science journalist @pallabg.bsky.social will present the prizes, helping us recognise our winner, two runners-up and ten highly commended writers. We are delighted that he will play such a central part in celebrating their achievements.

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ᴰʳ Khalil Thirlaway @drtalksalot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The final countdown is on ⏳ On Wednesday 16 September, @rogerhighfield.bsky.social will host #YSWA2026. Roger is Science Director at the Science Museum Group, a science journalist and broadcaster, and an ABSW Honorary President. He will guide our celebration of 13 finalists at the Smith Centre.

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Reposted by ABSW

I'm excited to meet these young science writers at the start of their journey! I'm going to give them some real talk about the wonderful potential and serious responsibility of communicating science: how we talk about it, what audiences we engage and who we platform.

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chairing the judging panel for the Wainwright Nature Writing Prize 2024 and Conservation Writing Prize 2025. Khalil will share these experiences with our 2026 winner, two runners-up, ten highly commended writers and invited guests. 📅 16 September, 1.00 pm 📍 Smith Centre, Science Museum, London

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....and co-hosted the podcasts Wild Crimes and Our Broken Planet. Always keen to find new ways to connect people with #science, he has since expanded into other fields like designing board games, appearing in TV documentaries and...

....like coding-based cookery classes and robot football matches as well as exhibitions including Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination. Next door at the @NHM_London he wowed visitors with video games and a live tattooing demonstration, interviewed Greta Thunberg.....

Whether through writing, events, exhibitions, podcasts, videos, game design, roleplay or standup comedy, he believes that there is wonder to be found wherever you look, if you can find the right angle. He started his career at the @sciencemuseum.org.uk, producing events....

Khalil is a #sciencecommunicator who uses surprise and creativity to help people connect with science in fun ways.

Speaker announcement 📣 Khalil Thirlaway will join us at the Young Science Writer Award Ceremony 2026 to deliver his talk ‘The Power and Responsibility of Science Communication’.

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We also thank Alex and Jeff O’Brien, founders and funders of the award. Their mission is to empower young people from underrepresented backgrounds, widen participation in science communication and help students see new possibilities. 📅 16 Sept | 📍 Smith Centre, Science Museum, London

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🏛️ The Science Museum will welcome our finalists and guests to the beautiful Smith Centre and bring science communication to life through demonstrations. Together, the prizes offer recognition, resources, practical experience and new opportunities to learn. We are deeply grateful to every partner.

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💻 Raspberry Pi is providing our winner with a technology bundle, encouraging coding and practical experimentation. 🔬 Young RI memberships from the Royal Institution will give our winner and runners-up continuing opportunities to encounter new ideas, attend events and engage with scientists.

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🎨 STAEDTLER is supporting the award with #YSWA26 funding and curated gift bags, offering practical tools for researching and planning. 📚 DK is providing a specially selected book bundle for every award recipient, introducing them to different voices and ways of explaining complex ideas.

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🏆 Our winner receives £1,000 to support learning or future projects, plus BBC publication, taking their work to a national audience and building their portfolio. Two runners-up receive £250 each, while 10 highly commended writers receive £100, recognising the work behind every essay.

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Here is how it supports our writers. 🧵

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7 DAYS TO GO! A prize should do more than recognise what a young person has achieved. It should help them imagine what they might do next. The #YSWA2026 package combines financial awards, publication, books, technology and continued access to science.

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How do you make your pitch stand out among all the ideas landing in an editor’s inbox? Find out with @munkeatlooi.bsky.social at ‘Pitching perfect: The art of pitching’ — with practical advice, examples and interactive group work. 📅 23 September 📍 @royalsociety.org 🔗zurl.co/sccv6

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Why does that matter for young science writers? Because explaining science is about more than presenting facts. It means finding structure, context and meaning without losing the evidence. We’ll hear Anna’s perspective at #YSWA26 on 16 September @sciencemuseum.org.uk #studentjournalism #awards

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Her book Handmade was published by @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social in 2021. Anna also founded Storyology Ltd, through which she trains scientists, engineers, researchers and teachers to communicate technical ideas through storytelling. #storytellinginscience

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Anna studied Materials Science @ox.ac.uk and completed a PhD @ucl.ac.uk before building a career spanning research, writing, podcasting, performance and science communication. Story gradually became the thread connecting them all 🧵 #materials #science #research #phd #podcasting

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What does storytelling have to do with science? 🔭🔬📖 Materials scientist, author and storyteller Dr Anna Ploszajski joins us at the Young Science Writer Award Ceremony 2026 to explore exactly that in her talk: “Why Science Needs Story.”

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#Pitching Join us today, Tuesday, 8 September 2026, at 13h30, on Discord's ABSW Coffee Shop. 🔗 zurl.co/sBO3E #sciencejournalism #sciencewriting #pitchingskills

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Over the coming days, we’ll also share more from the programme and introduce the speakers joining us in London. Here’s to five years of championing emerging science writers, and to everything still to come. The next chapter starts here. #YSWA26 #ScienceWriting #ScienceCommunication #Journalism

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This year’s finalists have written about health, medicine, technology, the environment and the universe, showing just how wide-ranging, thoughtful and ambitious science writing by young people can be. We’ll be introducing them very soon.

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On 16 September, this year’s finalists will gather with families, teachers, judges, speakers and supporters for the YSWA26 Awards Ceremony at the Smith Centre, Science Museum, London. A special setting for a milestone year.

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Created for 14–16-year-olds from state-funded, non-selective schools, YSWA gives emerging writers the chance to explore the science that interests them, develop their own perspective and turn complex subjects into clear, engaging stories. Five years on, that purpose remains central.

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The countdown to YSWA26 is underway. 🎉 2026 marks the five-year anniversary of the Young Science Writer Award, celebrating young people across the UK who are asking ambitious questions and communicating science with originality.