The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has named journalists Alexandra Witze and Jane Qiu as the winners of its first Geosciences Communications Fellowship for proposals on volcanology and climate change reporting, respectively. Each will receive €2,500 to cover expenses related to their projects.
Witze receives financial support for a book about the 1783 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki, "one of history's great untold natural disasters," she writes in her proposal. Qiu's focus is on climate change and the Third Pole, an ice- and snow-rich region on the Tibetian plateau that "may hold key to our planet's past, present and future climates," she says.
Out of the 34 proposals received, the panel of judges, comprised of practicing geoscientists and science journalists, also selected Emily Baldwin, editor at Astronomy Now, and Paul Voosen, reporter at Greenwire, as runners-up. Their proposals focus on astrobiology and atmospheric sciences, respectively. Baldwin and Voosen will be offered EGU support in contacts with geoscientists.
All winners and runners-up are invited to attend the EGU General Assembly, taking place in Vienna from the 22-27 April 2012.