WWU alumnus Jesse Nichols wins Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication for Grist’s ‘Proof of Concept’
WWU Journalism alumnus Jesse Nichols (’17) has won the 2025 Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine for his video series "Proof of Concept."
Nichols is the video producer at Grist, a climate and environmental publication headquartered in Seattle.
Nichols said his interest in visual communication began at an early age.
“I was the kid who loved Popular Science, Scientific American, and Nova on PBS. I got a video camcorder for Christmas and made silly videos with my friends. In high school, I made documentaries, and I loved the craft of filmmaking,” he said.
When he came to Western, combining his love of documentary film and science communication led him not only to major in journalism, but to be editor-in-chief of The Planet magazine — based in the College of the Environment — and recently named the best ongoing student magazine in the nation.
“Western gave me an opportunity to exercise my skills and passion while making films of the great stories around me. I loved my time at The Planet. It was the perfect entry into journalism and made me realize that journalism is such a cool field,” Nichols said.
When he reflects on faculty who mentored him, he remembered Warren Cornwall, who had been the advisor to The Planet when he was there.
“He remains a great advisor for me to this day,” he said.
Journalism’s Carolyn Nielsen said she wasn't surprised to learn of Nichols’ latest award.
"Jesse has always been an outstanding writer and visual journalist with a strong aptitude for science and a passion for making scientific knowledge understandable,” said Nielsen. “This is his second national award for science journalism. It's exciting for all of us to see one of our Journalism Department grads continue to excel on the national stage doing the work he dreamed of doing," said Nielsen.
After graduating from Western, Nichols secured an internship at Grist, and he has been there ever since.
“This award has been a trip for me. When you’re doing journalism, you don’t always think of the story beyond hitting the button to publish — it’s amazing to receive an award like this, to know your work has an impact.”
When asked what advice he has for current journalism students, he responded, “It’s a tough moment to be starting out in journalism, but when students reach out to me, I always take their calls. I encourage journalism students to regard their education as a safe practice space, develop their skills as well as they can, and make the most of it.”
Nichols has also received the American Association for the 2024 American Association for the Advancement of Science Kivali Science Journalism Award, a 2025 award from the Society of News Design and an Emmy nomination for his "Proof of Concept" videos.
Find out more about Western’s Journalism Department here.
Frances Badgett covers the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at badgetf@wwu.edu.