By Julie Ann Miller

Web edition: October 18, 2005
Print edition: October 22, 2005; Vol.168 #17 (p. 271)

If you have looked carefully at the masthead of Science News, you may have noticed that it usually includes an intern. These contributors are gifted reporters at the beginning of their science-writing careers. Each one spends several months covering science shoulder to shoulder with our more experienced staff members. The talents of one recent intern and one from many years ago have now been recognized by national awards.

Kate Ramsayer's story "Infrasonic Symphony" (SN: 1/10/04, p. 26) was selected by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) for its 2005 Science Writing Awards in Acoustics for Journalists. The article described the rapidly growing research on infrasound, or frequencies below the hearing range. Kate pointed out many uses, including detecting clear-air turbulence and avalanches and monitoring atmospheric explosions.

"Kate Ramsayer's article stood out not only because of her clear and engaging writing style but also because the topic was one not often in the public eye," says Joe Posey of the NASA-Langley Research Center and chairman of the judging committee. Kate currently reports on environmental issues for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Ore.

The ASA also recognized Declan Butler for his piece "Sound and Vision," published in the Feb. 5, 2004 Nature.

A much earlier Science News intern—and subsequently a writer here—has received the 2005 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting. Rick Weiss of the Washington Post was honored by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing for "extraordinary coverage of the life sciences, from the lab bench to the halls of Congress."

Rick came to Science News as an intern in 1987 and then served as our biology and medicine writer until 1990.