| Site map | Contact

BEST NATIONAL BRAIN SCIENCE WRITERS ANNOUNCED

- The European Dana Alliance for the Brain, the British Neuroscience Association and At-Bristol science centre commend excellent brain science communication

- 2006 National Brain Science Writing Prize award highest compliments to participants from London and Bristol

- Article by 6th form student highly commended

12 December 2006 - Two talented individuals, who wrote about autism and confabulation respectively, receive today the top honour in the 2006 National Brain Writing Prize. The judges of the award have also highly commended the article entered by Flora Devlin, a Sixth Form student from Manchester.

Launched for the first time last year, the award is jointly organised by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, the British Neuroscience Association and At-Bristol science centre. It aims to celebrate brain science and to encourage more scientists and researchers in this field to actively engage the public in what they do.

Dr. Angelica Ronald receives the top award in the Researchers Prize category for her article about the impact of genetic overlap in autism and attention hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on brain development. She is currently a post-doctorate researcher with the Institute of Psychiatry, studying 6000 twins in a bid to find better treatments for autism and ADHD.

The top title in the General Prize category is awarded to Dr. Rebecca Poole, who has entered the competition with ‘When Imagination and Reality Combine.’ The winning article explores her fascination with confabulation and the scientific explanation for it.

Confabulation is a symptom when the mind confuses imagination with reality. Her inspiration for the topic came during an afternoon of reminiscing with her parents. Dr. Rebecca Poole is currently pursuing her post-doctorate PhD in plant pathology at the Bristol University.

Flora Devlin’s article entitled ‘The Real Cause of Obesity: Addicted to Food’, explains the brain theory behind obesity and questions the effectiveness of prescribing drugs to combat this problem, which is also suggested in the article as addiction to food. Flora Devlin is a student at St.Bedes College, currently studying for AS levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics.

‘We're delighted by the way the entrants have brought alive the latest ideas and discoveries within brain science, enticing people to question and explore their amazing brains. We've also been extremely impressed with the high standards of this year's entries, and particularly happy that such a wide range of people were inspired to take part, including University scientists, speech therapists, sixth form students and teachers.’ says Dr. Penny Fidler, who pioneered the launch of 2006 National Brain Writing Prize and is one of the judges for the competition.

Runner-up prizes for the Researchers and General categories are awarded to Dr. Nada Yousif and Kate Holden-Dye respectively. Gillian Pepper, a UK co-ordinator for Yearoutindia, is also recognised in the Highly Commended category for her article.

General Prize
1st: Rebecca Poole - When imagination and reality combine
2nd: Kate Holden - Dye: Drunk worms and cheap-date flies

Researchers Prize
1st: Anjelica Ronald - Scientists reveal autism and ADHD have the same cause
2nd: Dr. Nada Yousif - Stimulating the brain

Highly Commended
Flora Devlin - The real cause of obesity: addicted to food
Gillian Pepper - Changing the face of our lives

Articles are now available to public on www.youramazingbrain.org/writingprize.htm

For more information please contact Mavis Choong, At-Bristol Press Office
0117 915 7152 / 0796 733 4152 / mavis.choong@at-bristol.org.uk

Notes to Editors:

• At-Bristol is a leading science centre in the UK and a major player in the worldwide science centre movement. It aims to be a world-class science and natural history centre that makes distinctive, valued and recognised contributions to formal science learning and public engagement with science across the UK and internationally.
  
  A registered charity, At-Bristol has reached out to more than half of the schools in the South West alone and has received more than 3 million visits to-date. The award-winning organisation continually strives towards making science accessible to all. www.at-bristol.org.uk
   

• The European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB) is an organisation of more than 170 eminent brain scientists, including five nobel laureates, from 27 countries. Launched in 1997, and modelled on the US-based Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, EDAB is committed to enhancing the public’s understanding of why brain research is so important. EDAB brings the excitement of scientific progress to the general public and opinion-formers by working in partnership with charities, universities, schools, hospitals, the arts, the media and professional organisations. www.dana.org/edab
   

• The British Neuroscience Association is a learned society with over 2000 members, mostly based in the UK, that represents the interests of academics, scientists, clinicians and students working in the neurosciences and related disciplines. It hosts meetings and symposia to disseminate the latest findings in brain research to a wider audience including the public. http://www.bna.org.uk
   

• Supported by the Wellcome Trust, with content and design created by At-Bristol, www.youramazingbrain.org is a hugely popular website and has recently won Yahoo! Search’s best education website in the UK.
   

• The judging panel for the National Brain Science Writing Prize includes Dr. Penny Fidler - neuroscientist and creator of the Your Amazing Brain website; Elaine Snell - Senior PR consultant for the European Dana alliance for the Brain (EDAB) and Dr. Yvonne Allen - Executive Secretary of The British Neuroscience Association.