REDMOND, Wash. – January 29, 2009 – Msnbc.com’s Science Editor Alan Boyle has won the National Academies Communication Award in the Online/Internet category for selections from his column Cosmic Log. Boyle’s column covers fluctuations in space, science, exploration and other cosmic fields. The National Academies chose Boyle for his ground-breaking efforts to expose to novices extensive, daily coverage of the physical sciences, technological innovation and space sciences.
The “National Academies Keck Futures Initiative" is a program designed to realize the untapped potential of interdisciplinary research. The awards recognize excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering, and medicine to the public and are presented to winners in the following categories: Book, Newspaper/Magazine, TV/Radio/Film and Online/Internet. This is the sixth year that the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, with the support of the W.M. Keck Foundation, have given the $20,000 prizes.
“Alan Boyle is one of the best science and space writers in the country,” said Jennifer Sizemore, editor-in-chief of msnbc.com. “His expertise is vast yet his blog, Cosmic Log, makes the most complex stories interesting and approachable. We are tremendously proud that Alan has been recognized by this honor.”
Boyle joined msnbc.com in 1996. Since that time he has won awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Association of Science Writers, the Space Frontier Foundation, the Pirelli Relativity Challenge, the Carnegie Mellon University Cybersecurity Journalism Awards program and was the winner of the 2007 June Anderson Almquist Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism. He is treasurer for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, a contributor to “A Field Guide for Science Writers,” and is an occasional on-camera source for MSNBC Cable.
Boyle was recently honored at a National Academies ceremony in Irvine, California.
About msnbc.com
Msnbc.com delivers a fuller spectrum of news. Drawing on its award-winning original journalism, NBC News heritage, trusted sources and Microsoft's advanced technologies, the site presents compelling, diverse and visually engaging stories on the consumer's platform of choice. Based in Redmond, WA, msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) and NBC Universal (NYSE:GE). According to Nielsen Online, msnbc.com was the number one Current Events and Global News site with more than 40 million unique visitors in December, 2008.