Celebrating Our Laureate, and a Successful Campaign, at the Webby Awards

The following is a guest post by Brett Zongker, the Library’s Chief of Media Relations.

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón has been in the news recently for her “You Are Here” signature project, but there’s also news about her collaboration with NASA and its Europa Clipper mission. The “Message in a Bottle” campaign—built around Limón’s poem, “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa”—won two Webby Awards for Advertising, Media and PR: Best Community Engagement for 2024.

One of the campaign’s Webbys was given by members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and the other—a Webby People’s Voice Award—given to the top vote-getters from the public. For those of you who voted for “Message in a Bottle,” thank you!

On Monday, I joined our NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory colleagues in New York City for the Webby Awards celebration. The campaign was honored along with some of the best internet creators and content from the past year, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her podcast, tech journalist Kara Swisher, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, NPR’s Tiny Desks Concerts, and PBS, which won Webby media company of the year.

The campaign with NASA began in late 2022. “In Praise of Mystery” was unveiled in June 2023, and by the end of the year millions of people from around the world had engaged with the poem—and over 2.6 million had added their names to fly into space. The Europa Clipper mission is scheduled to launch Oct. 10, 2024.

“Ada Limón has democratized poetry for new audiences around the world, and the Message in a Bottle’ campaign is a new benchmark of success. We were proud to celebrate her work with this Webby, along with our work to reach more people online with this inspiring poem,” said Roswell Encina, the Library’s Chief Communications Officer. “The campaign’s blend of poetry and space travel allows us all to consider what connects us on Earth, especially with our shared resource of water—the major focus of Limón’s poem—and what connects us in a common interest in exploration.”

Webby winners are challenged to write five-word speeches to accept their awards. NASA’s speech was “NASA’s Curious: Are We Alone?” You can read more about the winning team here.

We look forward to sending along more news about “You Are Here” and its “Poetry in Parks” initiative with the National Park Service and the Poetry Society of America, set to launch in less than a month!