Announcing the winners of Webb contests

Last year, we opened two competitions to the public: #ESAWebbPartyContest, which asked members of our Pinterest community to design their own space-themed Halloween party for Webb, and #WebbAtHome, which invited entrants to make a homemade spacecraft or rocket representing the mission from everyday household items. 

The entries to both contests were hugely creative, inspiring and showed the personality and talent of our online community. We’d like to express our thanks and appreciation to everyone who has taken part in supporting and celebrating the launch of Webb, and congratulate the very worthy winners. 

Halloween meets space

The #ESAWebbPartyContest launched via ESA’s Pinterest account, with runners-up receiving Webb goodies and the overall winner receiving a big prize: an invitation to ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands to attend a future event celebrating Webb as it begins to observe the Universe. 

Entrants created their own Pinterest boards filled with up to 20 pins to visualise their party concept – everything from spooky decorations to Halloween-themed nibbles for their guests. 

One overall winner and 10 runners-up were selected. The top prize went to Martyna Sikora from Poland for her out-of-this-world party design, featuring handmade t-shirts stamped with Webb’s distinctive hexagonal mirror pattern, celestial nail art, spacecraft-themed carved pumpkins and a variety of space-themed food (from rocket kebabs to cosmic ombre cocktails).  

View Martyna’s full board here, and explore the other entries via the comments on this pin.

Build your own

#WebbAtHome tapped into a different kind of creativity, encouraging entrants to complete space-themed craft projects at home to be in with the chance of winning some ESA goodies.  

Entrants were invited to design and create their own homemade Webb spacecraft or Ariane 5 rocket – from traditional paper and cardboard through to media such as baking, knitting or origami – and to share visuals of their homemade spacecraft ‘launching’ on their social media accounts. 

A number of ‘spot prize’ winners were announced throughout the contest, with one entry ultimately named the overall winner.  

Spot prize winners: Webb spacecraft models by the Hamada Soltan family, Egypt; Webb and Ariane from household items by Oscar Lucca, Argentina; Webb cookies by Christopher Teale, UK; Voice visualisation by Claudius Gruner, Germany; Origami by Émile Girard Tsuru, USA; Typographic painting by Alisha Jamal, UAE; and a Webb lantern by the Wylezalek family, Germany. 

Several entries from Iran caught our attention for displaying great creativity and ingenuity, and so we want to place these wonderful Webb models in the spotlight as commended entries: Webb model by Mohammad Mahdi Janaati Zade; Webb made of flowers by Fatemeh Torkian; Webb made of books and featuring prominent scientists by Mersa Ghobadi; and Webb made from Iranian delicacies by Yasamin Sharifzadeh. 

Our overall winner is Veronica Medina Garciadiego of the Netherlands, who submitted a wonderful image and accompanying GIFs of a crocheted Webb, Ariane 5, and mission patch, featuring an award-worthy cat cameo. Selecting the winner was a tough call as the standard and quality of entries to #WebbAtHome was extremely high; however, this entry showed great skill and acknowledged multiple elements of the Webb mission and its launch, also paying homage to our international partners and the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. 

Alongside the wonderful image above, Veronica also submitted two GIFs – one of the crocheting process of creating the mission badge, and one of their cat enjoying the crocheted Webb.

Congratulations to all the winners – we very much appreciated and enjoyed all of your entries, and thank everyone who entered for your engagement, excitement and support of Webb. 

Exploring farther with Webb

Webb launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 25 December 2021. As well as launch services, ESA contributes to two of the four science instruments, along with personnel to support mission operations. 

Webb – an international partnership between NASA, ESA and CSA – will see further into our cosmic origins than any mission before it, observing the Universe’s very first stars, the birth of planets and stars, and hunting for exoplanets with the potential for life. Webb will also explore the Solar System, following on from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope as the next great space science observatory. 

Learn more about the Webb mission

Full mission information: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb  

Follow our social media updates on Webb: https://twitter.com/ESA_Webb   

Follow ESA on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/EuropeanSpaceAgency/