If you are a blogger, and if you write a post with an evolutionary topic, you may be eligible to win one of the travel grants to come to ScienceOnline2011 from NESCent – National Evolutionary Synthesis Center:
Win a travel award for best evolution-themed blog
Application deadline: December 1, 2010
Are you a blogger who is interested in evolution? The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center is offering two travel awards to attend ScienceOnline2011, a science communication conference to be held January 13-15, 2011, in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.
The awards offer the opportunity to travel to North Carolina to meet with several hundred researchers, writers, editors and educators to explore how online tools are changing the way science is done and communicated to the public. Each winner will receive $750 to cover travel and lodging expenses to attend the conference. For more information about ScienceOnline2011, visit http://scienceonline2011.com/.
To apply for an award, writers should submit a blog post that highlights current or emerging evolutionary research. In order to be valid, posts must deal with research appearing in the peer-reviewed literature within the last five years. Posts should be 500-1000 words, and must mention the NESCent contest. Two recipients will be chosen by a panel of judges from both NESCent and the science blogging community. Please send your name, contact information, the title and date of your blog post, and a URL to travel.award@nescent.org. Winners will be notified by December 15th, 2010.
For the results of last year’s contest, visit http://www-dev.nescent.org/news/TravelAward.php. For more information contact Craig McClain at cmcclain@nescent.org, or Robin Smith at rsmith@nescent.org.
A Blog Around The Clock 
What if you are not an evolutionary blogger? Is there an opportunity to win a travel fellowship? I can’t afford to attend these meetings- I make peanuts for my writing. (I’m too embarrased to admit how much they pay me for a freelance piece at the local newspaper)
There is no possible way I can go without assistance.
Well, perhaps bloggers in other areas of science can persuade an organization to do a similar contest for them. It makes sense that an evolutionary center focuses on evolution. Perhaps another society, institute or organization can do the same for other topics. We also usually have some limited funds to help session moderators who otherwise could not afford to come (e.g., students, unemployed, people from developing countries, etc.).
If there is a session I could moderate it would be a true honor. I’ve done freelancing for San Diego Community News since 2006. I just submitted a story yesterday on antibiotic resistance.
I don’t really have a specialty. Perhaps right now its chemistry education since I’m blogging about my introductory chemistry class. I’ve discovered the way to get comments on my blog is to reward students who participate.
Anyway- I know everyone is tight for money right now. And- I think my second semester starts Jan 10- probably not a great time to go out of town.
It sounds like a lot of fun, however. Enjoy! See ya online! Three cheers for science blogging.
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