From the Nominator

When a mild-mannered Johns Hopkins researcher instantly becomes a scientific celebrity, a team from the office of communications follows along on the Nobel Prize journey of a lifetime. Winning a Nobel is the pinnacle of a researcher’s career. It’s also a moment of extraordinary pride and prestige for the university with which that researcher is affiliated. When Johns Hopkins physician-scientist Gregg Semenza was named one of the recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, we seized the rare opportunity to bring the experience of the Nobel festivities in Stockholm to life for readers in our community and beyond. We sent a four-person team to Sweden—a writer, a photographer, a videographer, and a video producer—to provide comprehensive coverage of Dr. Semenza’s big moment, from his whirlwind arrival in Stockholm to his emotional Nobel lecture, to the pageantry of the grand Nobel Prize ceremony, where he received the Nobel medal. We even published a spot news article after Dr. Semenza’s rushed to the aid of a man who had fallen and badly injured himself outside of the Nobel Museum. All of this coverage—articles, photos, and videos—was produced in real time, across a six-hour time difference, so that it could be packaged and distributed in a timely manner to thousands of eager readers back home at Hopkins.

From the Judges

Any college or university would devote serious coverage to a faculty member winning a Nobel Prize, but it would be difficult to live up to the standard Johns Hopkins has set with this series of fast-paced, on-the-ground news stories that follow physician-scientist Gregg Semenza as he travels to Stockholm, Sweden, to receive the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This is very impressive journalism, capturing intimate reactions in the midst of this swirl and telling them quickly and cleanly on tight deadlines. They had masterful coordination between writers, photographers and editors on two continents. The series allows the reader to feel that they've gotten to know Dr. Semenza, and raises an interesting question: "What if a Nobel laureate were covered with the same intensity and passion that our culture usually assigns to celebrities and stars?”