I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who sent in applications to be a Naturejobs journalist for the Career Expo in Boston on May 20th.

As part of the competition, we asked you to submit 600-word articles answering one of the following questions:

1. What advice would you give to a friend who is having trouble dealing with a devil-in-disguise boss?
2. You are invited to travel back in time and ask anyone a question. Who would it be and why?
3. You’re working with the world’s worst slacker, and on top of that, they’ve stolen your glory. How would you deal with them?
4. A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?
5. You are given a million dollars to launch your favourite scientific business idea. What is it, and what would you do with the money?

As a journalist, it’s important to understand the outlet you are writing for and in particular its audience. Your audience at New Scientist, for example, would be different to those at The Times or the Economist. Once you are clear on what the audience wants, you then need to work out how to deliver your message in  way that will resonate with readers.

The Naturejobs blog reaches an international audience of scientists from both academia and industry and aims to provide practical content to help readers deal with situations in both environments. We like to add a personal touch by inviting writers to share their stories with us, so that you, the reader, can relate to their experiences.

The objective of this competition was to see if you, our readers, had worked this out. We had some great entries, and will share the 5 winning ones plus 5 runners up with over the next fortnight. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.