Combined QUEST/Climate Watch unit wins for its report on rising seas

A team of producers and editors at KQED was honored this weekend with a prestigious Kavli Science Journalism Award. Only a few projects are selected each year by the Washington-based American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The KQED team, a collaboration of the QUEST and Climate Watch science reporting units, was recognized in the Television Spot News/Feature Reporting category for its segment on rising sea levels in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In its announcement last fall, AAAS noted:

“The QUEST/Climate Watch co-production ‘used the visual medium of television effectively as it laid out the facts—and uncertainties—surrounding rising sea levels,’ said Richard Harris, a science correspondent for NPR who served as a judge.”

Rachel Silverman produced the segment, which I reported. Others honored included QUEST TV series producer Amy Miller, managing editor Paul Rogers, associate producer Lindsay Kelliher, and video editor Linda Peckham.

During the segment, we join scientists for some mud coring along the Marin bayshore, to document prehistoric sea level patterns, review projections for sea levels over the next several decades, talk to urban planners in Hayward who are grappling with decisions on how to protect infrastructure, and visit with residents of the tiny South Bay hamlet of Alviso, which sits several feet below current sea level.

The awards, funded by an endowment from the Kavli Foundation, were announced in November and presented this weekend at the AAAS annual meeting in Vancouver. Winners are chosen by independent panels of science journalists.

Another winner for climate coverage was Christine Peterson of the Caspar Star-Tribune, who, with Kerry Huller and Wes Watson, reported on receding glaciers in Wyoming.