Awards | Science journalist of the year Kirsi Heikkinen makes science understandable and enjoyable

A year 2023 science editor Kirsi Heikkinen is the producer of Tiede magazine, which makes the texts written by good science journalists even better.

He edits the text in such a way that even difficult scientific results are revealed to the reader in an entertaining and engaging way.

“I can’t think of any other job that would be fun, endlessly interesting and important at the same time. Sure, there are more important jobs, like saving a life or leading a nation, but they’re hardly as fun,” says Heikkinen.

Finland the science editors’ association justifies the reward by the fact that Heikkinen has the skill to edit the text so that the author’s own voice and style remain audible.

Heikkis, who is currently working as a producer for Tiede magazine, is praised in the justifications especially for the fact that when editing the text, he concentrates on the topic, checks the facts and refines the text linguistically and narratively.

“Information belongs to everyone and at the same time it means that science belongs to everyone. Even though science has its own puzzles, science is in any case the best way humans have invented to find out what the world is like,” says Heikkinen.

“The most fun in my work is writing, but the most important thing is editing. If the author is a chef, the editor checks that the soup is edible.”

“Every time the reader stumbles over a sentence or leaves the story unfinished, the editor has not been able to or had time to do his job well. Most of the time, it’s the latter, because time is a dwindling resource in all media companies.”

“I hope that young journalists get excited about science, because this is the best thing ever! Sometimes it’s rocket science, but it doesn’t hurt if you don’t understand everything right away. These are probably the only professions where asking stupid questions is a virtue.”

Tiede-lehti is born in the science department of Helsingin Sanomat.

Science journalism Heikkinen has done his entire working career. Most of all, he has worked as a freelance journalist. In addition to Tiede, his articles have been published in Suomen Kuvalehti, Kauneus ja Terveys, Hyvä Terveys and Helsingin Sanomat.

Heikkinen has written two common sense information books on brain development together Tiina Hutun with.