Named for the distinguished editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, the first David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism—News was presented at the 2000 Fall Meeting. The award recognizes excellence in science news reporting, defined as work prepared with a deadline of one week or less. It is presented annually to a journalist or group of journalists for a news story or series in any medium except books that makes information about the Earth and space sciences accessible and interesting to the general public.

Committee members are charged with the following duties:

• Select the recipient of the Perlman Award; the final decision is subject for approval of the Council Leadership Team
• Abide by AGU’s Honors Conflict of Interest Policy
• Interpret the scope of the award broadly and keep in mind that as a Union award, it should reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Earth and space sciences
• Promote excellence and transparency and allow broad input and recognition beyond disciplinary awards
• Promote diversity and commitment to equity to ensure that the awards are sufficiently representative of underrepresented groups
• State, as part of the award recommendation to the Council Leadership Team, the number of candidates considered, how many candidates were holdovers, how many candidates are new
• Define the process used for reaching the decision