Solar Physics Division Names Recipients of 2022 Popular Media Awards

This announcement has been adapted from an AAS Solar Physics Division press release.

The AAS Solar Physics Division (SPD) has announced the winners of its 2022 Popular Media Awards: Colin Stuart, Mara Johnson-Groh, and Joy Ng. SPD's Popular Media Awards are given to authors of popular or semipopular articles on the Sun or the effects of the Sun on Earth's environment. Each of the awards includes a $500 honorarium and a certificate.

Colin Stuart, a freelance science writer, receives the award for his article “Solar Trouble: How Well Do We Know the Sun?,” published in the April 2021 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine. In this article, Stuart describes the ongoing uncertainties in quantifying solar elemental abundances and the ramifications for understanding the universe.

Mara Johnson-Groh and Joy Ng, science communicators for NASA, are jointly recognized for their article and accompanying video entitled “NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries,” published on 14 December 2021 on nasa.gov and YouTube, respectively. In the article and video, Johnson-Groh and Ng explain the revolutionary discoveries made by the Parker Solar Probe as it passed through the coronal Alfvén surface for the first time.

Congratulations to all three winners of SPD's 2022 Popular Media Awards!