Travel Awards for Canadian Science Journalists to Attend AAAS

::Via the CSWA::

CSWA and EurekAlert! Announce Competitive Travel Awards for Canadian Science Journalists

Together with the Canadian Science Writers’ Association, EurekAlert!, the global science-news service for journalists, today announced a competitive travel awards program to help Canadian journalists participate in the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting taking place in Vancouver from February 16 to February 20.

EurekAlert!, the online science news service sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will provide travel awards to 13 eligible Canadian reporters and two journalism students to help cover the cost of attending the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting. Each travel award will cover up to $1,000 of expenses upon submission of a signed request including original receipts and boarding passes.

The Canadian Science Writers’ Association will review nominations for the awards before passing finalist recommendations along to EurekAlert!

Nomination Criteria:

• Nominees eligible for travel awards must be full-time freelancers or reporters employed with accredited Canadian media outlets, covering science, technology or health-related topics. Travel awards are also available for one undergraduate and one graduate student studying science journalism.
• Nominees must not hold any ineligible dual affiliations; such roles may include, but are not limited to: financial consultant/investment advisor, policy analyst, public information/marketing professional, researcher, or manuscript editor/reviewer at a peer-reviewed journal. Any affiliation with AAAS is also deemed ineligible.
• Awardees must use one of seven preferred hotels in Vancouver, to be posted to the AAAS Meetings site as soon as registration opens (http://www.aaas.org/meetings). The travel award is applicable toward hotel costs or flights.

To nominate students, please submit two writing samples and a letter of recommendation from a professor to office@sciencewriters.ca The deadline for nominations is Dec. 1, 2011.

To nominate journalists, please send contact information, an editor's letter of recommendation and two or three clips to the Canadian Science Writers’ Association, care of office@sciencewriters.ca The deadline for nominations is Dec. 1, 2011.

The AAAS is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote quality science reporting around the world. AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal The CSWA is a national non-profit alliance of professional science communicators in all media. Its mission is to increase public awareness of science and technology in Canadian culture and to cultivate excellence in Canadian science writing and journalism.

For additional information about the EurekAlert! travel awards, contact Kristina Bergen (office@sciencewriters.ca) or Jennifer Santisi (jsantisi@aaas.org).

PAAB Answers Questions About Social Media

I was very pleased to see that the PAAB is offering a panel discussion and learning event around the use of social media in pharmaceutical advertising in Canada. Pharmaceutical companies are already using it, so the session is sorely needed.

The panel will consist of representatives from PAAB, Health Canada and marketers. According to the announcement on the LinkedIn group for the PAAB, by the end of the event, attendees will be able to:

• Define what “Online Social Media” is and explore its most common applications;
• Identify the most popular social media websites and their key demographics;
• Determine the various applications and benefits of using online social media in Canadian pharmaceutical marketing;
• Undertake approved and acceptable practices for using online social media for marketing and advertising efforts;
• Examine and identify specific examples of acceptable social media marketing practices within the Canadian regulatory environment

This looks like a great event. Dates are set for September 29th in Montreal and September 30th in Toronto. 'Hope to see you there!

Concordia Offers Online Medical Writing Course

Concordia University's Medical Writing II, exploring writing for the Canadian Pharmaceutical Industry, is now available online! Enrollment is now underway. You can enrol by fax or mail until December 10th and in person until December 14th. The course mostly focuses writing for the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, in particular the marketing and mass media side of the business like CHE, copywriting, patient and educational materials, public relations, etc. For more information, please visit the Concordia Universities Continung Education pages.