Help us celebrate the winners of this year's Science in Society awards, the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, and the Evert Clark/Seth Payne award for Young Journalists.

During the Saturday night awards reception at COSI (Center of Science and Industry), you can wander the exhibit halls with appetizers and refreshment in hand. Among the exhibits available for viewing will be: “Labs in Life,” Ohio State University’s three working research laboratories based at the Downtown museum. Ohio State and COSI have partnered to facilitate the university’s research and outreach – including studies that engage museum visitors.

All attendees are invited to attend the gala at no cost. Dress is smart business casual.

Complimentary light dinner will be served. Complimentary wine, beer, and soda will be available.

• 5:45 shuttles begin from Hilton to COSI. They will go back and forth all night, except during the program itself.
• 6:00-7:30 Bar open with complimentary wine, beer, soda, and juice. Light Mediterranean dinner buffets open. Explore COSI.
• 7:30 Awards presentation begins
• 8:15 Dessert begins after presentation, explore COSI, shuttles begin return trips.
• 9:00 Bar closes
• 9:30 Event Ends

Every science writer will eventually run into P values, a mysterious and controversial measure of “statistical significance.” Here we’ll see how even scientists get P values wrong, and how we can help our readers by getting them right — even without a math degree. What does a P value mean? How can we convey its information to readers in plain English? We’ll discuss its paradoxes and pitfalls, see examples of what and what not to do, and explore the implications for covering scientific studies. All backgrounds are welcome for this very applied session, from the stats-savvy to the completely math-phobic.

Climate change. Keystone XL. ObamaCare. Government science funding. Increasingly, science, environment, energy and health issues are pulled into the controversial arena of American politics, either locally or in our nation’s capital. With the 2014 mid-term elections looming, how well prepared are science writers to dive into the latest partisan battles? And how can science journalists provide value-added coverage of contentious stories, combining expertise with political savvy? In this workshop, some of the most knowledgeable writers and editors from different beats and markets will provide practical advice on how best to cover “hot-button” issues for mainstream and specialty media.

As science writers, we are often tasked with tackling big ideas with national or international implications. But honing in on the local area can also yield great opportunities to tell stories that matter to our communities. From stories about local environmental issues, the researchers behind a new gadget, or the surprising science of an urban hockey rink, this session will highlight writers who have found success in pitching stories from their hometowns and in publications outside the traditional world of science writing. In the panel discussion, we’ll hear from writers who have successfully conquered local markets to talk about how they pitched stories — and we'll ask the editors to discuss what they look for in a good local science story. Attendees will come away with a toolkit for finding local stories and science stories with wide appeal.

We all dream about the assignment that takes us to far-flung, exotic locales. But once you've been given the nod, how do you go about preparing? This panel will discuss international reporting trips, how to organize them and, most importantly, how NOT to screw them up. Because when you only have one shot at a story, you have to make it count.