The winners of the 2024 Taste of Science Prize

The Taste of Science Prize returns for the fifteenth edition. This prize aims to highlight the best scientific works, accessible to all, without forgetting the youngest.

Monday June 10, 2024, during a ceremony at the Paris Aquarium, the winners of the Le Goût des sciences Prize received, from the hands of the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Madame Sylvie Retailleau, the trophy which symbolizes science and knowledge: a reproduction of The Young Owl (1918) by François Pompon.

The Taste of Science Prize, a literary prize which aims to select and reward the best scientific works accessible to the greatest number of people, is divided into two categories:

• The Scientific Book Prize, awarded to François Sarano and Pome Bernos, for Please draw me a sperm whale, published by Actes sud.

• The Youth Prize awarded to Sophie Blitman, Juliette Ravaux and Claire Martha, for The big book of extreme animalspublished by La Martinière jeunesse.

This prize which rewards a work intended for an audience of 9-13 years old, and among the three works selected by the jury, it was a jury of children who named the winner: two 6th grade classes from the François-Marie Luzel college in Plouaret (Côtes d’Armor) and a 5th grade class from La Cerisaie college in Charenton-le-Pont (Val-de-Marne).

The finalists are:

Plants are not stupid! Philippe Nessmann, Jean Mallard, Sarbacane editions

Do ants know how to swim? 60 questions to learn everything about this fascinating insectClaude Lebas, Samuel Louart, Delachaux and Niestlé editions.

The winners are:

Sophie Blitman, Juliette Ravaux and Claire Martha, The big book of extreme animalsLa Martinière youth.

Do you know the amazing ice frog, a type of Hibernatus! Did you know that solidarity between emperor penguins exists, and that, like legionnaires, they form a turtle formation to keep warm… The big book of extreme animalspublished by La Martinière jeunesse, could not go unnoticed for its XXL format, its magnificent drawings, and for the discovery of the little-known faculties of certain animals.

“When we talk about science, it is not only a question of arousing their curiosity, but also of developing their reasoning, their critical thinking. Even more so today with the Internet, social networks or all kinds of messages that flood are not always reliable. For me, science is really a shield against fake news and that’s why it’s important to talk about it, to disseminate knowledge.

Sophie Blitman

at franceinfo

The finalists are:

The largest menu in the worldBill François, Natural stories on our plates, Fayard editions.

The truant cellsLise Barnéoud, published by Premier Parallèle.

The laureats :

Pome Bernos and François Sarano, for Please draw me a sperm whalepublished by Actes sud, Mondesgraphiques.

The starting point for this comic strip is a meeting initiated by the illustrator Pome Bernos with the oceanographer and former expedition leader on Commander Cousteau’s Calypso, François Sarano, and it’s fascinating !

“Eliott, a young male who is now 13 years old, we have known him since he was born, came several times to try to tame me. And when I say that, it’s because we studied the expressions sounds that they use between them, to ask each other for caresses, to ask for physical contact. And for the first time, he used these sound expressions, specific to their group, to come towards me and with this sound expression, he. wanted us to bond together.”

François Sarano

at franceinfo

A complicity that we find in Please draw me a sperm whale. A creative, informative work, which mixes science, comics, humor and poetry…

Another great Taste of Science Prize 2024!

The full interviews with Sophie Blitman and François Sarano can be found at the top of this page.