Christina Scott : Africa’s foremost science journalist dies

Acclaimed South African science journalist, Christina Scott has died in a tragic auto accident in Capetown, South Africa.

Until her unfortunate death on October 31^st 2011, Christina was the managing editor at Research Africa, Cape Town, South Africa. She was a stalwart of African science journalism, an author, broadcaster and journalist of repute. Christina hosted the weekly Science Matters programme on South Africa’s main national English-language station, SAfm.

She was the President of the South Africa Science Journalists Association (SASJA) between 2009 and 2010 and a strong force in the African Federation of Science Journalists. She was previously the Sub-Saharan editor for SciDev.Net between 2007 and 2009 and between 1994 and 2004 was the science editor at the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation.

She was an active member of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) where she mentored a crop of African science journalists under the federation’s first SjCOOP between 2006 and 2009.

Reacting to the sad news, Nigeria’s Diran Onifade, president of the African Federation of Science Journalists said: “I haven’t heard anything this horrible in a long while. Christina (Get-On-The-Bus) Scott was too energetic to be imagined lifeless. Even in our grief, let’s not forget that she was THE foremost African science journalist and we should honour her memory as such.” 

Kenyan journalist Kimani Chege, a former mentee of Christina’s said: “You really mentored me well..Science journalism is nothing without you. RIP great friend and teacher.”

Christina holds a degree in English literature from the University of Alberta and a Masters degree in media studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

She authored the book: Nelson Mandela: A force for freedom.

Christina Scott won many awards during her life time and this include the 2007 TWAS prize for public understanding and popularizing science. In 2005 she was co-winner of the reporting microfinance award from the Inter Press Service news agency and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In 2000 she was awarded a Jack E. Scripps science journalism fellowship from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA and in 1999 she won the CSIR science and technology award for radio.

She’s survived by 3 children and aged mother.

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Posted by AfricaSTI on October 31, 2011. Filed under Profile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry