Health Writer’s Award shortlist announced

The Guild of Health Writers‘ has annouced the shortlist for its 2009 Awards with journalist Jerome Burne leading the field with two nominations.

Burne has been shortlisted for best national newspaper health feature for his peice Mobiles – Are We Being Told The Facts? which appeared in the Daily Mail along with a nomination as the best comsumer magazine feature writer for The Truth About CJD which was published in Candis.

The awards, presented annually to recognise excellence in health writing, offer nominees the chance to vye for £6,000 prize money – with £700 awarded to the first place in each category and £350 to the second place winner.

Nominations across the six categories cover a wide range of subjects including IVF, surviving teenage cancer, the psychology of space expoloration and the potential harm of talking therapies.

Winners will be announced at a presentation in London on 13 October when a the prize for best overall freelance feature will also be awarded.

Shortlist for best national newspaper health feature:

1.    Jerome Burne – Mobiles – Are We Being Told The Facts? Daily Mail
2.    Tanith Carey – Scarred Before They Were Born – The Babies Cut By C-sections, Daily Mail
3.    Lucy Elkins – Could Gas Poisoning Be Making You Ill? Daily Mail
4.    Jane Feinmann – When A Trainee Surgeon Was Let Loose On This Little Girl, Daily Mail
5.    Victoria Lambert – Made To Save – the issue of saviour siblings, Daily Telegraph
6.    Anna Magee – Hidden Health Risks for Children of Sperm Donors, Daily Mail

Best consumer magazine health feature:

1.    Elizabeth Adlam – The Picture That Saved A Baby’s Life, Reader’s Digest
2.    Jerome Burne – The Truth About CJD, Candis
3.    Omega Douglas – Fertility: The Whole Story, Easy Living
4.    Susannah Hickling – Don’t Get Sick After Dark, Reader’s Digest
5.    Martha Roberts – Having A Single Twin Is A Bittersweet Experience, Mail on Sunday
6.    Faye Louise Rowe – This Breakthrough Will Help Save Lives, Boots Health and Beauty
7.    Jacqui Thornton – Too Scared For Sex, Cosmopolitan

Best trade and specialist publication feature:

1.    Lilian Anekwe – Incentive to cut referrals, Pulse
2.    Neil Hallows – Fancy another, BMA News
3.    Dr Christian Jarrett – When therapy causes harm, The Psychologist Magazine
4.    Katharine Sanderson – Emissions contro,l Nature
5.    Nick Warburton – Crocodile Fears, Environmental Health Practitioner
6.    Alison Whyte – A serious ethical dilemma – swine flu, Nursing Standard

Best online health contribution:

1.   John Lister – The beginning of the end
2.   Anouk Lorie – CNN helps surgeon perform lifesaving op
3.   Colleen Shannon – What is the neonatal unit?
4.   Fergus Walsh – Fergus on Flu
5.   Ellen Widdup – Surviving teenage cancer

Best regional newspaper health feature:

1.    Liz Bestic – The healing power of horses, East Anglian Daily Times
2.    Janet Boyle – Out of body Op cured little Katherine’s cancer, The Sunday Post
3.    Liz Perkins – Small technology is going to be huge, South Wales Evening Post
4.    Clare Semke – Fighting Alzheimer’s, The Portsmouth News
5.    Tom Shepherd – Justice for our cancer patients, Oxford Mail