Ann Lingard of SciTalk asked me to help publicise this:

WINNERS OF THE 2ND “SUBTLE SCIENCE” SHORT STORY COMPETITION

Ann Lingard

Writers came along to listen to and meet ‘Four Scientists in search of an author’ at this year’s Oxford Literary Festival. The event, organised by SciTalk (www.scitalk), was held at Science Oxford and sponsored this year by the international journal, The Scientist. Its spin-off was the 2007 Subtle Science short story competition -- writers had the chance to visit the four scientists’ labs and work-places and could then submit a story to the competition, which was judged by prize-winning novelist and short story writer Jane Gardam, writer Robert Macfarlane, SciTalk founder Ann Lackie (aka novelist Ann Lingard), and Ivan Oransky, deputy editor of The Scientist.

SciTalk’s aim is to get writers and scientists to meet each other and to help writers to use modern science (and scientists as characters) in an informed, exciting and non-clichéd way . Writers commented after the event that there was a ‘very welcoming atmosphere’, ‘a personal approach’, ‘excellent talks that weren’t condescending’. And the experiences of the three winning writers (http://www.scitalk.org.uk/index.php?id=35 ) showed how enjoyable the collaborations were.

The outright winner was Anne Youngson, with her story Tenderness; the two runners-up were NEA Carter with Equifinality and Rachel Crowther with Bedrock. Their stories have been published online by The Scientist (http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/53375/ ) in their Culture Friday section and you can also access them through the SciTalk website.

You can read the winning stories of the first, 2006, Subtle Science short story competition in GuardianUnlimited (http://books.guardian.co.uk/subtlescience/0,,1835675,00.html )

And remember, SciTalk is a free, no-strings-attached, easy to use resource that has been developed especially for writers – poets, playwrights and screen-writers, novelists and feature-writers too. Do use it! There are more than 150 scientists of all ages, stages in their careers, academics to lab technicians to free-lance consultants, and different disciplines, each with their own informative and often amusing web-page, each person ready to help you and show you where and how he or she works.

Links:
• SciTalk www.scitalk.org.uk
• ‘Four scientists’ event and winning writers’ comments: http://www.scitalk.org.uk/index.php?id=35
• The Scientist: introduction to the competition, and winning stories http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/53375/
• Ann Lingard (Ann Lackie): www.annlingard.com

What a cool site. Everything you can and can't think of is there. I haven't written about anything scientific because my brain shrivels when I even think of it. This is a great opportunity for writers to delve into the unknown and come out sounding really good.
Thank you for sharing.
Take care
Tracy