The largest science book prize in Britain has for the first time been won by a female author, almost 28 years after it was established.
The 2015 Royal Society Winton prize for Science Books has been awarded to environmental journalist gaia, a journalist and broadcaster based in London. On Thursday evening, the award was presented.
It is indeed an honor to have her name listed among a long list of past award recipients, which includes Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Jared Diamond, James Gleick, and Bill Bryson, who are all masters in science journalism.
Vince traveled the world for over two years after quitting her position as an editor at Nature magazine to research her book, Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made. According to Anthropocene, which was coined in the 1980's, humans have emerged as mankind's most powerful force on Earth, a period of Earth's geological history.
It was uncomfortable for me to do the writing assignment. Many of his trips in the past few years have taken him to areas where humanity's exploitation of Earth's resources has caused the most severe damage to people and the environment. Since poor people have been most affected, it should not come as a surprise that they have been hardest hit. The author visited slums in Columbia, a silver mine in Bolivia, and a slum along the way, in addition to slums in Colombia. When she landed in the Caribbean, she found thabuilt a new island out of refuse and decorated it with papaya leaves and palm trees when she arrived. Two wooden homes surrounded the island. Her globetrotting adventure was cut short when she contracted malaria while she was in the middle of it.
Ian Stewart, the chair of the judges, recognized Vince's research into an under-reported field of science and his ability to write an original story. Stewart noted that all the judges were unanimous in their decision that Vince had won the competition. In an email, he stated that Vince's "dedication to this book" is a source of pride for all of us, a source of humility, in fact. While she provided an insightful analysis of the issue of the day, she did so in a way that could empower as well as never allow complacency to set in. I am very pleased that today we are acknowledging and recognizing the importance of this project.
Grace Vince, the first woman to ever win this prestigious award as a sole author, was awarded the book prize by the Royal Society of Literature this year. This is the first time a woman has received such an award, which is worth £25,000. The author of this novella is Alan Walker, co-author with Pat Shipman, who won the award for their work on The Wisdom of Bones in 1997.
Vince thanked the judges several times throughout his acceptance speech for having given him this award. When she was told that her money was going on someone else, she replied, "I wasn't going to bet on you.