About Us

Ruth Adams Award

The New-Land Foundation, along with the family and friends of Ruth Salzman Adams (1923-2005), who was twice the editor of the Bulletin, joined with the organization in 2005 to establish the Ruth Adams Award for Journalists in Peace and Security. In 2008, the Bulletin began an effort to build an endowment to fund the program in perpetuity.

The Ruth Adams Award recognizes journalists--writers, web editors, and documentary producers--who demonstrate the capacity to translate complex issues of peace and security into everyday language and images. The annual award provides $7,000-$10,000 to one person for a project on an issue that is surfacing as a significant and potent topic. The winning submission appears in the Bulletin's magazine and on its website.

The first two Adams Award recipients have taken on projects dealing with the impact of U.S. policy in Afghanistan after 9/11, and a looming struggle over diminishing water supplies in Asia, respectively, honoring Adams's remarkable instincts for tracking the most salient emerging global issues.

Donors who share Ruth Adams's commitment to increased understanding and action on peace and security issues are encouraged to help build this endowment fund. Contributions can be made online or by contacting Kendal Gladish in the Development Office at 312-364-9710, ext. 17.

Ruth Adams

Ruth Adams (1923-2005) served twice as the editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and also as a member of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and International Affairs. She excelled at finding talent--people who could produce lucid, distinctive narratives and shape policymaking. During her lifetime, she helped develop the next generation of thinkers and doers and inspired them to communicate effectively.

Contact Info

Anjanette Harris

Administrative & Development Associate

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
77 W. Washington Street, Suite 2120
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 364-9710 ext. 10
aharris@thebulletin.org

Past Recipients

Stephen Sapienza, senior producer, Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal 2007

Stephen Sapienza will use web-based and broadcast reporting to illuminate an issue that could put India and China, rising economic powers and both nuclear weapon states, at odds over access to limited water resources.

Sarah Chayes, author of The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan after the Taliban 2006

Sarah Chayes was a correspondent in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans for National Public Radio before she moved to Afghanistan in 2002. In her eloquent acceptance remarks upon receiving the first Ruth Adams Award in 2006, Chayes underscored its financial impact on a writer’s freedom to tell stories the world needs to hear.