Post and Courier stories about forever chemicals, rising seas and the Southeast’s emerging lithium belt earned former reporter Clare Fieseler a major national science writing award.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine honored Fieseler in its Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications. The awards recognize journalists, scientists and science communicators.
Fieseler’s work explored how chemicals known as PFAS have been found in the ovaries of women struggling to get pregnant.
Another focused on how rising seas are swallowing Confederate monuments, generating new questions about preservation.
A third explored the South’s “lithium belt,” areas in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina that will play key roles in the clean car revolution.
Judges said Fieseler’s reporting “links past to present and environmental to personal, while calling for accountability in the community.”
Fieseler, now with Politico, wrote all three last year and won in the local/regional category. She was among 24 honorees out of more than 600 entrees. Top winners in various categories received $40,000, with two finalists receiving $20,000 each.
Schmidt Sciences is a philanthropy dedicated to fostering the advancements of science and technology. Its co-founders include Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, and his wife, Wendy, a philanthropist and investor.
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