Awards | Kettunen, the animal of the week, is the science journalist of the year

A year science reporter is Niko Kettunenwhose Animal of the Week column has entertained and enlightened the readers of Helsingin Sanomat for more than a decade.

“The Animal of the Week column makes people aware of science in a way that excites both children and biologists,” explains Finnish Association of Science Journalists award.

A week in animal Kettunen often tells about special animals that parallel the special features of human life.

When Kettunen once got to the University of Tampere in 2008 to study information science, the road led to Helsingin Sanomat in the summer of 2011 to do science stories.

Then in January 2013, the first Animal of the Week appeared, which was conceived in the magazine's then Saturday Supplement. The fox had free hands to make the plot look like himself.

“The idea was to come up with a current link to the animal. Quite naturally, political satire could also be inoculated into it, as always. It's been amazing to turn those into a completely free-form packing area, really without any boundaries.”

“I haven't counted exactly how many texts I've done. Probably 550 animals. . Mother has all the newspaper clippings saved.”

The fox remembers that Juha Sipilä (central) for the government's education cuts and the scornful “Caribbean sepia always disappoints” from 2015 has probably been the most popular article on the column. “It got a lot of feedback. Also positive.”

Animal of the Week stories published in Helsingin Sanomat have also been compiled into books.

Fox also writes broader science stories as a freelance science editor. The closest subjects are evolution, biology, genetics and nature. Astronomy is also of interest, and Kettunen says that he is a member of the astronomical association Ursa.

“I've always been hugely interested in natural sciences and history, and read about them extensively in my own time. Since my teenage years, I haven't read much other than non-fiction books on natural science.”

Science stories as a counterweight, Kettunen, from Espoo, drives cars in the surrounding areas, which he does test drives with.

Kettusen's first profession was a car mechanic and tire fitter. He says that he has restored “probably hundreds of replacement cars” to sales condition and changed tires on “probably a thousand cars”.

“A good text tries to understand the subject more broadly. It is not a technical manual written for engineers, but connects world phenomena for a wider readership. I think that's the case in science journalism as well,” Kettunen defines in the press release.

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