Women in Geospatial+ Writing Competition 2021 Winner Announced

The Women in Geospatial+ Writing Workshop, held online in September of 2021, included a practical exercise: a writing competition for participants.

Women in Geospatial+ is an international professional network to promote gender-equality in the geospatial industry and academia. In addition to community building via geo social media, mentorship, and organizing events worldwide, there is an ongoing series of workshops. A 2021 writing workshop, presented in conjunction with Geoawesomeness and GoGeomatics featured a panel of professional geo writers, and was moderated by Petra Millarova. Topics in the workshop focused how to create the type and format of content that geospatial publications, and marketing concerns look for. Panelists shared their experiences in writing for the industry, and offered advice on how new writers can promote their work, and even look for paying opportunities.

The writing competition idea grew out of discussions among the organizers and panelists while preparing for the workshop.   The impetus was two-fold: as a practical exercise, and to help promote new writers. All agreed: geospatial needs more writers. The wonderful and essential work of geospatial practitioners and professionals does not get enough notice. And this kind of outreach is what Women in Geospatial+ does so well.

The guidelines for the competition carried a few provisos:

• The participant could be a professional writer to participate in the Women in Geospatial+ Writing Competition – competition participation was limited to those who had not written regularly in a professional capacity for commercial publications or who were in a professional communications or marketing role.
• The submission needed to be original, written by the participant and not have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• Each participant could submit multiple entries in both categories. The competition had two categories – case studies and articles on the topic of “Geospatial for Good”.

Seven excellent entries were received; all have been published in Geoawesomeness. The winner is Helen Mazalon, with her article: Using geospatial analysis to identify where people are and understand who is being ‘left behind’.

Many thanks to Geoawesomeness and GoGeomatics for supporting this initiative and promoting the workshop. Also, to the panelists and host, and of course to Geoawesomeness for publishing the articles. But more than that, these talented new writers all deserve applause for their hard work and excellent writing skills—please help promote their work.

Could this become an annual workshop and competition? Let’s hope so…

On that note… are you in geo and aspire to do some writing? There is a lot of geospatial work to be done to meet growing global demands and achieve goals for a sustainable future. One of the most critical elements of “geospatial for good” works and initiatives is outreach: telling the stories, providing case studies, sharing solutions, building community, celebrating accomplishments, and promoting innovation. Geospatial publications are always looking to help promote new writers; contact us if you have content or content ideas.