Peste Magazine gives first Public Health Disservice Awards

Peste Magazine Public Health Disservice Awards, hosted by Neoliberal John Snow. Image by Esther Moon.

The awards, also known as “The Snowzzies,” acknowledge the achievements by individuals and groups in worsening public health in 2022.

Good journalism doesn't minimize or dismiss disaster and suffering, or allow the people in power off the hook. Peste Magazine ensures those responsible for our current situation are held accountable.”

— Taylor Lorenz, technology columnist for The Washington Post

CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA, December 13, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, Peste Magazine announced the winners of the first Public Health Disservice Awards. These awards, also known as “The Snowzzies,” acknowledge the achievements by individuals and groups in worsening public health in 2022.

“Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the

U.S. over a million people have died and millions more are becoming disabled by long covid every day. Good journalism doesn't minimize or dismiss disaster and suffering, or allow the people in power who continue to perpetuate that disaster and suffering off the hook. In our shifting media landscape there are fewer and fewer checks on power. Peste Magazine crucially ensures those responsible for our current situation are held accountable for their actions, or they will continue to act with impunity,” said Taylor Lorenz, technology columnist for The Washington Post.

In collaboration with the satirical public health twitter account Neoliberal John Snow (@neoliberalsnow), Peste Magazine convened an advisory committee of renowned experts in public health, medicine, epidemiology, anthropology, health equity, economics, and journalism. After a public nomination process, the committee reviewed nominations and selected winners.

The Snowzzie Awards go to:

Achievement in Being the Center of the Universe: Awarded to David Leonhardt. Write-up by Gregg Gonsalves, PhD (Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale)

Achievement in Public Health Disservice by a Non-Public Health Professional: Awarded to Emily Oster. Announcement by Adia Benton, PhD (Associate Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at Northwestern University)

Special Consideration Award for Public Health Disservice: Awarded to APHA/IDSA. Write-up by Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, PhD (Principal Investigator of the Social Epidemiology to Eliminate Disparities [SEED] Lab, Ohio State)

Creative License in Public Health Communication: Awarded to MTA. Write-up by Nate Holdren, PhD (Associate Professor of Law, Politics, & Society at Drake University)

Achievement in Public Health Disservice by a Group: Awarded to UCSF (tied with Stanford). Write-up by David Gorksi, MD, PhD (Managing Editor, Science-Based Medicine)

Achievement in Public Health Disservice by a Group: Awarded to Stanford (tied with UCSF). Write-up by Justin Feldman, ScD (Principal Research Scientist at the Center for Policing Equity, Yale)

Achievement in Public Health Disservice by an Individual: Awarded to Ron Klain. Write-up by Jason Silverstein, PhD (Editor-in-Chief, Peste; Co-Director of the Media, Medicine, and Health Program at Harvard Medical School)

Special Consideration Award for Public Health Disservice: Awarded to Ron DeSantis. Write-up by Sean Kennedy, MPH

“One might imagine that when the stakes are extremely high, as they surely are when it comes to public health during a global pandemic, a record of accuracy, self-reflection, humility, and integrity ought to determine who is revered as an expert and given a wide platform. Unfortunately, the pandemic has given us example after example of just the opposite: self-promoting experts who remain utterly certain in their pronouncements despite being wrong over and over. These awards provide a clever and important means of calling out individuals whose errors and over-confidence have imposed substantial costs to public health," said T. Ryan Gregory, an evolutionary biologist and genome biologist at the University of Guelph.

With the award announcements, Peste Magazine will also publish a new poem from Diane Seuss, winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, 2022 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection, and 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

Find The Snowzzies Online:

Peste Magazine Public Health Disservice Awards: www.pestemag.com/the-snowzzies
Neoliberal John Snow Twitter: www.twitter.com/neoliberalsnow
Peste Magazine Twitter: www.twitter.com/pestemagazine
Peste Magazine Instagram: www.instagram.com/peste.magazine