The winner of the 2016 Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award, an annual prize for young science journalists, is Natalie Wolchover, senior writer at Quanta Magazine.

 Wolchover received the award and its $1,000 prize for four stories in Quanta:

 Gravitational Waves Discovered at Long Last

The Quantum Secret to Superconductivity

Visions of Future Physics

A Fight for the Soul of Science

The panel of judges cited Wolchover for her great range, for her “masterful” ledes, for her impressive ability to make tough stories enticing (and to explain complex ideas like Bayesian statistics), and for making the people in her stories come alive. “She can really write about physics,” said one judge.

Wolchover earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Tufts University and studied graduate-level physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Before coming toQuanta, she co-authored several academic papers in nonlinear optics, and wrote for LiveScience, Popular Science, Seed, Make magazine, and other publications.  Another of her articles was recently honored with the 2016 Excellence in Statistical Reporting Award, presented by the American Statistical Association, and yet another was chosen for inclusion in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2015.

2016 Evert Clark / Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists
Natalie Wolchover / Quanta Magazine