'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' wins best book award from National Academies

The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine awarded the 2011 Communication Award for a book to Rebecca Skloot for "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."

The awards honor "excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering, and medicine to the general public," and come with a prize of $20,000.

The winners will be honored on Oct. 14 during a ceremony at the National Academies Keck Center in Washington, D.C.

For more information about the awards, read the press release from the National Academy of Sciences.