John Green's 'Turtles All the Way Down' and NPR's 'Hidden Brain' Named Winners of Austen Riggs Center 2018 Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass., June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Austen Riggs Center is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media:
- Turtles All the Way Down, by John Green
- NPR's Hidden Brain, hosted by social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam
The Austen Riggs Center Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media recognizes a select group of professional journalists, writers, and media professionals who create exemplary work that contributes to the public's understanding of mental health issues. A prestigious recognition, each prize carries an award of $3,000 and is presented at the Center's annual Fall Conference held in Stockbridge, MA. This year's conference, "Duality's End: Computational Psychiatry and the Cognitive Science of Representation," will be held on September 28-30, 2018.
In speaking about the award winners, Medical Director/CEO Dr. Andrew J. Gerber stated, "We were fortunate this year to have a number of excellent entries, many connected to neuroscience, the theme of our upcoming Fall Conference. The two winners, while quite different in style and medium, each successfully grappled with the profound nature of mental illness."
John Green is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with David Levithan), and The Fault in Our Stars. He is a recipient of the Printz Medal, a Printz Honor, and the Edgar Award, and was selected by TIME magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. In his book Turtles All the Way Down, sixteen-year-old Aza confronts her roles as daughter, friend, and student while also living with her own troubling thoughts.
NPR's Hidden Brain uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior. Hidden Brain began in 2012 as a regular series on NPR's Morning Edition before launching as a podcast in 2015, and as a radio program in 2017. The show is now the #1 science podcast in the nation, and is heard on more than 200 public radio stations across the nation.
The show is hosted by Shankar Vedantam, NPR's social science correspondent. Throughout his career, he has been recognized with many journalism honors, including awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors, the South Asian Journalists Association, the Asian American Journalists Association, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, and the American Public Health Association.
"Our team is deeply committed to helping people better understand themselves and the world around them," said Hidden Brain supervising producer Tara Boyle. "We're gratified to know that listeners have taken valuable insights from our work, and we are delighted to receive this honor from the Austen Riggs Center."
About the Austen Riggs Center
Austen Riggs Center, a leading psychiatric hospital and residential treatment program, has been serving adults since 1919. Within a completely open setting, patients are provided immersion in an intensive treatment milieu that emphasizes respectful engagement. Individual psychodynamic psychotherapy is provided four times a week by doctors on staff. The Erikson Institute for Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center studies individuals in their social contexts through research, training, education, and outreach programs in the local community and beyond.
The Austen Riggs Center is located in Stockbridge, MA. For more information about its services, please call 413.298.5511 or 800.517.4447 or visit www.austenriggs.org.
SOURCE Austen Riggs Center
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