Join RCIScience for a very special evening celebrating this year’s science communication award winners!
A knowledge translator for almost three decades, Terry Collins receives the Fleming Medal for Excellence in Science Communication. Terry’s reporting has been picked up by journalists in Canada and worldwide, awakening public interest in and deepening understanding of diverse sciences, fostering political will and mobilizing resources for change.
The William Edmond Logan Award goes to the team behind CBC Radio’s national weekly science program, Quirks & Quarks. One of Canada’s most beloved science news programs since it first aired in 1975, Quirks & Quarks remains consistently rated among the most popular CBC programs, attracting almost a million listeners globally each week.
Senior Producer Jim Lebans and Producer Sonya Buyting join Terry Collins for an energizing roundtable discussion exploring the behind-the-scenes newsmaking process. How do you find a public interest angle in scientific research? How do you pitch a science story for different media? And just what exactly does it take to bring a story to air nationwide? They’ll share how they got their big breaks, how the industry has changed over the years and of course answer your questions along the way! This is one conversation not to be missed by lovers of science and journalism alike.
About the Speakers
Terry Collins is an independent science writer focussed on environment and health-related events and research at the United Nations, universities and other public sector institutions worldwide. Graduating from Queen’s University’s School of Business in 1977, Terry began his career as a news reporter, working nine years in Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa, including three years in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. A decade of public service followed: Ministerial Press Secretary, Environment Canada; Director of Communications, House of Commons; and Senior Information Officer, UN Environment Programme (NY Office). Terry began his Toronto home-based writing enterprise in 1996. He and his wife Jennifer have three children, Tim, Annie and Brian, and three grandchildren, Beckett, Wesley and Hayes.
Sonya Buyting is an award-winning broadcast science journalist. Every week, she and the team at Quirks & Quarks, CBC Radio's flagship science show, bring fascinating science stories to listeners in Canada and around the world. She began in science journalism producing and reporting for Discovery Channel’s and CTV’s Daily Planet, once the world’s only daily science magazine television show. She then started producing long-form factual television, including the documentary series Cosmic Vistas on The Smithsonian Channel, as well as host for High Fidelity HDTV, now Blue Ant Media. She also worked for several years on the air crash investigation docudrama, Mayday, on Discovery Channel Canada and on National Geographic channels in more than 140 countries.
Jim Lebans is currently the Senior Producer of CBC Radio's award-winning science program, Quirks & Quarks, where he has worked, with small interruptions, since 1993.