2024 Nominees

The Battle to Beat Malaria

Wingspan Productions, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, NOVA/GBH, Arte

UK, USA

- Science & Technology

In all medical science, there has been no longer, tougher battle than the fight against malaria. It’s one of the world’s deadliest diseases—more than 600,000 die of malaria every year, the vast majority children. But we’re at an exciting turning point. Close to 150 previous vaccine efforts have ended in failure. But this film has exclusive access to the gripping and emotional unfolding story of the development of R21 - a new vaccine from Oxford University. This culminates in the extraordinary moment, caught-on-camera, of the key vaccine trial result landing with scientists who’ve devoted their careers to this toughest quest. The Battle to Beat Malaria tells the inside story—filmed on four continents—of a watershed moment in the fight against one of nature’s biggest killers. It has been acclaimed for doing justice to both the science and the scientists and communicating powerfully, with real human drama, what may prove one of the 21st century’s historic breakthroughs.