Grantee Jane Qiu wins Sharon Begley Science Reporting Award

Jane Qiu, a three-time Pulitzer Center grantee, won the 2026 Sharon Begley Science Reporting Award. The award—established in 2021 by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing—recognizes reporting and writing that embodies high standards exemplified by science journalist Sharon Begley, who died in 2021 at 64.

Qiu will receive a $20,000 reporting grant, along with mentoring from Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong.

Since 2016, Qiu has partnered with the Pulitzer Center on reporting related to science and global crises. Her first Center-supported project, Nepal’s Ticking Timebomb, shed light on a landslide crisis affecting multiple Nepalese villages. For her 2021 project, COVID-19 in China: the Origins, the Response, and the Way Forward, Qiu traveled to Wuhan and other Chinese cities to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wildlife Farming and the Emergence of Deadly Infectious Diseases, her most recent collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, traces the biosafety risks of wildlife trade in China, aiming to inform decision-making that could prevent another pandemic like COVID-19.

“There’s a fearlessness to Jane’s work, which is especially commendable given the immense difficulties of working as an independent science journalist in China,” said independent filmmaker and judge John Sutter, who won the 2023 Begley Award. “She masterfully combines an engaging writing voice with deep reporting on critical issues in science, including Covid-19. I find her brave and trailblazing journalism to be a powerful addition to the legacy of Sharon Begley.”

See more of Qiu's Pulitzer Center-supported reporting here.