Science editor at the Times Mark Henderson and freelance health reporter Victoria Lambert will both receive a prize of €7,500 (£6,600) and an example of their work will be reprinted in ESO's magazine Cancer World.
"I'm very honoured to win the award and grateful to all the doctors, scientists, patients, charities and carers who I speak to on a regular basis and who are so generous with their time, knowledge and feelings," Lambert told Journalism.co.uk.
"Cancer touches us all; it is crucial that journalists write about the topic with integrity and accuracy, keep checking the facts and speaking to the widest possible group of experts. But also we need to demystify and humanise the subject."
A runner-up prize of €2,500 (£2,200) in the Best Cancer Reporter awards was given to German freelance journalist Martina Keller.
"I would like to thank the cancer patients I interviewed for my article," she said.
"It is not easy to reflect about costs and benefits of cancer drugs if you hope those drugs will prolong your life. But they did."
Henderson, who was runner up in the awards in 2010, was also today named the winner of the print journalism category of the Royal Statistical Society's Excellence in Journalism awards.
“I'm delighted with the awards, and for both to be announced on the same day is a tremendous feeling," he told Journalism.co.uk.
"I'm particularly pleased because sound use of statistics, and accurate, unsensational but compelling coverage of cancer, are two goals to which I think every science journalist should aspire.
"I couldn't have won either prize, however, without the help of the scientists who have taught me so much about genetics and statistics, and the brave patients I have featured in my cancer reporting. These prizes recognise the value of scientists engaging constructively with the media as well as my own contributions to journalism."
The RSS awards also offer prizes in online and broadcast journalism categories. BBC business reporter Anthony Reuben was named as the winner in the online category, while the broadcast journalism winner has not yet been announced.
On Twitter Henderson said the RSS award recognised his investigation into risk presentations by personal genomics companies. He also links to his Times report on new genetic techniques in the fight against cancer which won him the Best Cancer Reporter award.
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