National Association of Science Writers

The National Association of Science Writers congratulates Chiara Villanueva, Emma Smith, Jamie Jiang, Julie Lee, Olivia Maule, and Pragathi Ravi on receiving a 2026 NASW Diversity Summer Fellowship. Trainees in science writing and journalism must balance financial needs with new challenges, especially amid economic and journalism industry impacts.

Virtual skills chat: AI: Reputational, ethical and environmental considerations Presented by the NASW Freelance Committee Date: Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026 Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific Event access link: https://www.nasw.org/virtual-events-auditorium (NASW member login required) The NASW Freelance Committee virtual meetup on August 6 will be a skills chat focused on GenAI (e.g., Claude, Gemini).

Last updated: June 30, 2026 The National Association of Science Writers, Inc. (“NASW”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes the privacy practices applicable to information collected when you visit our website at www.nasw.org (“Website”) and which we may collect in the normal course of business.

Virtual networking social: Pitch swap Presented by the NASW Freelance Committee Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific Event access link: https://www.nasw.org/virtual-events-auditorium (NASW member login required) This event will be a creative space to share your story ideas without fear of getting scooped. This will not be a competitive arena. We’re here to support one another.

Virtual business chat: Small business insurance 101 Presented by the NASW Freelance Committee Date: Thursday, July 2, 2026 Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific Event access link: https://www.nasw.org/virtual-events-auditorium (NASW member login required) An increasing number of clients are requiring freelancers to have business insurance.

ScienceWriters is the largest U.S. convening for journalists, authors, editors, producers, institutional communicators, students, and people who write and produce material intended to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology. The conference attracts 600-800 attendees from North America and beyond. In addition to this weekend of in-person events Sept. 25-28 in Corvallis, NASW will also host a virtual-only component Oct. 14-16.

A virtual joint event presented by the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada (SWCC) and the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2026 Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific SWCC and NASW members: Register here (Free) You will need to use an email address that is associated with your Zoom account.

Virtual skills chat: How to let a client go Presented by the NASW Freelance Committee Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026 Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific Event access link: https://www.nasw.org/virtual-events-auditorium (NASW member login required) Landing clients gets all the hype, but not every client is meant to stay in your business forever—that’s just a sign of growth and a sign of being a smart business owner. Do you dread their emails?

This summer, NASW is again offering its virtual summer mentoring program for graduate and undergraduate students, which will run from June 3 to July 29. The program is named for longtime science writer and past NASW president David Perlman, who died in 2020 at the age of 101, three years after retiring from the San Francisco Chronicle. David was a mentor to countless members of the science writing community and always made time for kind and supportive words, especially for early career writers.

Advance Copy The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process.