Bristol Student Named Top Blog

Bristol postgraduate Suzi Gage has been awarded the 2012 UK Science Blog prize for her Sifting The Evidence website.

The site, which focuses on epidemiology and public health, beat over 100 competitors to the prize, which was split with renowned scientist Professor David Colquhoun’s blog.

Award-winning: Judges had high praise for postgrad Suzi’s writing

The £500 award was judged by a panel of top scientists and science writers including Guardian science columnist Ben Goldacre and Mark Henderson.

One of the judges, Simon Singh, remarked that ‘bloggers ranged from teenagers to emeritus professors, from doctors to astronauts. In the end, it seemed fairest to recognise this diversity by splitting the prize between two excellent bloggers’.

Suzi was stunned to have beaten many of her science heroes to the title.

Suzi beat many top scientists to claim the prize

‘The other nominees were some of the very people who inspired me to start blogging in the first place, so to be listed alongside them, let alone win, is a huge honour’.

With the award in the bag, pressure is now on for Suzi to complete her studies. Her co-supervisor Professor Marcus Munafo has no doubt that Suzi is destined for academic greatness.

‘To come out on top is an outstanding achievement, and shows that it’s possible to balance the demands of a successful academic career with public engagement activities of the highest quality.’

Suzi urges other PhD students to follow her lead and set up blogs of their own.

‘I would heartily recommend blogging to relative newbies like myself. My writing has improved beyond recognition and I have had conversations with fascinating people I wouldn’t have had otherwise’.

Check out Suzi’s award-winning blog here.