Neil Shubin. Photo by Cmichel67. CC BY-SA 4.0.
NCSE is delighted to congratulate Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago for winning the Society for the Study of Evolution's Stephen Jay Gould Prize for 2026. "Shubin was selected for both his exceptional record of research and his influential work in advancing public understanding of evolution," according to SSE's announcement. Shubin previously received NCSE's Friend of Darwin award, for reasons explained by former NCSE executive director Ann Reid in a May 23, 2015, blog post.
"The Stephen Jay Gould Prize is awarded ... to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould," according to SSE. Its first recipient, in 2009, was former NCSE executive director Eugenie C. Scott, whose acceptance speech is available online. Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University, currently president of NCSE's board of directors, received the prize in 2011.
