It’s an honour to have been recognised for The Battle To Beat Malaria and receive the Gold Award for Video – In Depth Reporting from the prestigious AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, endowed since 2009 by the Kavli Foundation, have held awards to celebrate excellence in science journalism since 1945 and are the gold standard of awards recognition in science journalism. Adjudicated by independent juries made up of fellow journalists, across international media, they celebrate achievements in print, video and audio, with Gold and Silver prizes awarded to each of their 8 categories.

You can see a list of this year’s winners here.

Director Catherine Gale said: “It was an immense privilege to be given the opportunity to film the story of the incredible team of scientists behind the development of a new malaria vaccine. Their commitment and resilience, against the odds, are deeply inspiring and their remarkable achievement serves as a powerful reminder that science can and does have the power to change, and in this case, over time save millions of lives.”

Judge Nsikan Akpan (managing editor: “Think Global Health” at the Council on Foreign Relations) said that the film “provides all that viewers could want from a science documentary. The behind-the-scenes production, the historical descriptions, and the clinical explanations are great, but I loved this project because of how it conveyed the agony and ecstasy of the research process.”

Executive Producer for HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Sean B. Carroll has now been honoured three times by the Awards, and is a AAAS Kavli Laureate. His fellow executive producer for Tangled Bank, Jared Lipworth said: “To be able to showcase the process of scientific discovery as it happens – and to be recognised by AAAS for that feat – is a true honour”. Whilst executive producer for NOVA Chris Schmidt said “we are honoured and humbled to be recognised alongside so many talented winners, and thankful to the AAAS for celebrating films that spotlight scientists at work.”

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest general scientific society, as well as publishing the world’s top academic journal ‘Science’. 

The Kavli Foundation, honouring Fred Kavli, the Norwegian-American entrepreneur, focuses on programs to advance scientific research that benefits humanity. 

THE BATTLE TO BEAT MALARIA is produced by WINGSPAN PRODUCTIONS, HHMI TANGLED BANK STUDIOS, ARTE FRANCE in association with NOVA/GBH and BBC.