October 23, 2025
SHERP alums win top science journalism prizes
Calli McMurray (SHERP 2023) and Joss Fong (SHERP 2013) have each won $40,000 first-place prizes in the National Academies/Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications, the top science journalism prizes in the U.S. McMurray won the Best Early Career Journalist category for what the judges described as her “incisive coverage of the hidden structures and human consequences that shape science” as a staff writer at The Transmitter, where longtime SHERP professor Ivan Oransky is editor-in-chief. Fong won the Independent Science Communicator category for her “outstanding work” as co-creator and host of the YouTube channel Howtown, which “blends rigorous research with playful, visually captivating storytelling.”