Webb Telescope Awards
Accolades and awards for the James Webb Space Telescope are piling up! This page lists many of the most prestigious awards to date. Each is a feature article or linked story that can be clicked through to read the details.
April 24, 2025
Webb Receives the IEEE Simon Ramo Medal
Awarded to Bill Ochs, Mike Menzel and Scott Willoughby recognizing exceptional achievements in systems engineering and systems science.
For "the myriad challenges that must be faced when attempting such an audacious scientific and engineering feat. These challenges were technical, programmatic, and organizational in nature. In short, this accomplishment exemplified the very best in systems science and engineering—and had a tremendous impact on several sciences and engineering disciplines."
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April 22, 2025
Webb's Communications Team Wins Two Webbys
For the Category: Social, Education & Science Campaigns - JWST's Comms Team is the Webby Winner and the People's Voice Winner in 2025
Webbys award "the Best of the Internet". They are the internet equivalent of the Emmys. Webb's Comms team won two in 2025 in a highly competitive category against some of the world's best science communicators including finalist co-nominees such as PBS, MIT and the BBC.
View the Award SiteApril 22, 2025
Webb's Communications Team Wins Two Webbys
NASA’s Begoña Vila Awarded 2024 Galician Excellence Award
Begoña Vila, an instrument systems engineer for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has been selected to receive the 2024 Galician Excellence Title in the Sciences and Medicine Category for her career and work on Webb.
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NASA Webb, Hubble Scientist Marcia Rieke Awarded Gruber Cosmology Prize
Marcia Rieke, Regents’ Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and principal investigator for the near-infrared camera on the James Webb Space Telescope. Credits: George Rieke / UAZ
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Former NASA Center Director, Webb Scientist to Receive Presidential Medals
Dr. Jane Rigby, Webb Senior Project Scientist receives Presidential Medal
President Joe Biden will present Dr. Ellen Ochoa, former center director and astronaut at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Dr. Jane Rigby, senior project scientist for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, each with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday in a ceremony at the White House in Washington.
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Webb Telescope’s Marcia Rieke Awarded Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal
Marcia Rieke, Regents’ Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona and principal investigator for the near-infrared camera on the James Webb Space Telescope. Credits: George Rieke / UAZ
Read the StoryNASA’s Sandra Irish Wins 2023 Society of Women Engineers Award
Sandra Irish, lead structures engineer of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, was selected to receive the 2023 Society of Women Engineers Resnick Challenger Medal Award. Credits: NASA
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NASA’s Webb Receives IAF Award
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) has awarded its World Space Award to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The award will…
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NASA’s Webb Wins Howard Hughes Memorial Award
The Aero Club of Southern California has awarded the Howard Hughes Memorial Award to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The…
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NASA Administrator Accepts 2022 Collier Trophy for Webb Telescope
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Northrop Grumman Chair, CEO, and President Kathy Warden accept the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) 2022…
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Webb, DART Missions Win AIAA 2023 Premier Awards
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) honored NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)…
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NASA’s Webb Science Team Wins Wernher Von Braun Memorial Award
Dr. Eric Smith
The National Space Society (NSS) has awarded the Wernher von Braun Memorial Award to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s science team. The award will be accepted at the NSS’s 23rd annual International Space Development Conference, to be held on May 25-28, 2023, in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
The Wernher von Braun Memorial Award is given in odd-numbered years to recognize excellence in management of and leadership for a space-related project that is significant and successful and shows strong management skills and team cohesion.
AAAS Announces 3 NASA Winners of Inaugural Mani L. Bhaumik Award
Recipients: Former NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, John Mather Project Scientist Emeritus, and Bill Ochs Webb Project Manager (pictured)
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April 2023
Webb's Social Media Team Wins 2023 Webby
For the Category: Social, Education & Science Campaigns - Webb's Social Media team is the Peoples Voice Winner and Webby Nominee in 2023
Webbys award "the Best of the Internet". They are the internet equivalent of the Emmys. Webb's Scoial Media team won the 2023 Peoples Voice Webby Award for their #UnfoldTheUniverse Campaign as well as being a finalist nominee for that category.
View the Award SiteApril 2023
Webb's Social Media Team Wins 2023 Webby
NASA’s Webb Telescope Receives Michael Collins Trophy
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team has been selected to receive the 2023 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime and Current…
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NASA Webb Telescope Selected for Bloomberg Businessweek’s Bloomberg 50
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was selected for the 2022 Bloomberg 50, its annual list of icons, leaders, and innovators…
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NASA Scientist Jonathan Gardner Named AAS 2023 Fellow
Dr. Jonathan Gardner is the Deputy Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credits: Courtesy of Jonathan Gardner
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NASA Earns Top Honor in Space for Fast Company’s Most Innovative List
Adding to a growing list of agency recognitions for its accomplishments in exploration for the benefit of all, NASA ranked…
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NASA’s Webb Telescope Receives Top Space Foundation Award
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team has been selected to receive the 2023 John L. “Jack” Swigert, Jr., Award for…
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NASA’s Webb Telescope Awarded Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy
The team behind NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has been selected to receive the 2023 Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy,…
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NASA Webb Telescope Awarded Popular Science ‘Best of What’s New’ Award
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was named a Popular Science 2022 “The Best of What’s New Award” winner in the…
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NASA Goddard Astrophysicist Awarded 2022 LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year
Dr. Jane Rigby, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was recently awarded the 2022 LGBTQ+ Scientist…
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NASA’s Gregory Robinson Named Finalist for Service to America Medal
Gregory Robinson, Program director, James Webb Telescope.
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