Wednesday, September 24, 2003

With no malice aforesight


I'm proud to see that Small Times is represented in three out of the four finalists for the 2003 Foresight Institute Prize in Communication. The prize recognizes outstanding journalists or other communicators whose work leads to a better public understanding of molecular nanotechnology or other key emerging technologies with high social or environmental impact. Last year's winner was David Pescovitz, a Small Times correspondent and columnist, co-editor of the unimaginably popular BoingBoing blog and invaluable NanoBot adviser.

This year, Jack Mason's relentless curiosity and dynamic writing style for Small Times and more recently for Salon earned him a finalist position.

Another is Stephan Herrerra, a seasoned veteran writer for Small Times, The Economist and the late Red Herring. In his columns for Small Times and others, Stephan was one of the first writers to slap a dose of reality into nano-euphoria.

Paul Holister and Tim Harper of Cientifica are also finalists. Tim is one of those rare nanotech business leaders and consultants who also slings a pretty mean pen -- an excellent choice by Foresight.

The fourth finalist was me, and while I'm still not certain who nominated me or why, I'm very honored to have my name mentioned alongside these eloquent nanotech communicators.

The winner of the prize will be announced at the 11th Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology Oct. 9-12, where I'll be filing Small Times stories, blogging and generally making a nuisance out of myself.

Discuss

This just in: Holister and Harper were awarded the communications prize "with very little fanfare" during the World Nano-Economic Congress in Washington a few weeks ago. Foresight tells me there will be "a little more fanfare at our conference." The big event, though, will be Foresight's announcement of the coveted Feynman Prize.

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