QC audio producer for NASA wins Webby awards
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Former Quad Cities resident Christian Elliott not only is in his first year of a full-time job as a NASA audio producer, but Tuesday earned a fancy feather for his celestial cap.
The 25-year-old Blue Grass native and 2020 Augustana College grad was among the winners in the 28th-annual Webby Awards, as the NASA podcast he works on won Best Podcast, Science & Education, Individual Episode, for “Curious Universe” and its Suiting up for Space – NASA.
Spacesuits are more than just garments – in the airless vacuum of space or on the freezing surface of the moon, they keep astronauts alive, says the description of the April 4, 2023 episode. You can learn how NASA engineers like Amy Ross and Paromita Mitra have contributed to the development of the next generation of spacesuits.
Elliott’s “Curious Universe” episode was one he wrote and produced as an audio storytelling intern then for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
“It’s pretty cool to see our small (but mighty!) show alongside the other NASA #Webbys winners,” Elliott posted Tuesday on X. “…major campaigns like the .gov website redesign, O-REx sample return broadcast, Europa Clipper message in a bottle project and NASA+ streaming service.”
As audio producer based at Goddard, Elliott’s responsibilities are to:
Interview scientists, write scripts and sound design, score and produce episodes for season 6 of NASA’s flagship agency podcast, Curious Universe
Travel as needed to NASA facilities to capture field recordings of mission milestones
Plan and lead production for heliophysics-focused Curious Universe mini-series
Write feature stories on new technological developments from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA.gov
Script and assist with production of social media promo videos for Curious Universe episodes
“Suiting up for Space” was among just the first three “Curious Universe” episodes he worked on as audio producer. He started his full-time job at Goddard in July 2023.
In the podcast (one of many NASA produces, including “Houston, We Have a Podcast”), you can join NASA astronauts, scientists, and engineers on a new adventure each week — all you need is your curiosity. “Curious Universe” was also a nominee for the overall Science & Education Best Podcast, which was won by Radiolab, produced by WNYC Studios.
Last April, Elliott said the timing of that space suit episode worked out really well, as its release was the day after the April 3, 2023 NASA announcement of the Artemis II crew (which will return to the Moon — orbiting around, not landing on — after more than 50 years).
The mission is scheduled for no earlier than September 2025. Four astronauts will perform a flyby of the Moon and return to Earth, becoming the first crew to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Elliott’s resume includes print and digital news and feature stories for National Geographic, Science, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Discover and MIT Technology Review. He’s also produced audio stories (radio and podcast) for WBEZ, Chicago Public Media, Deutsche Welle and WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. Elliott’s work has been republished in Popular Science, Mother Jones, Slate, Ars Technica, Slate and The Atlantic
Many NASA Webbys
NASA was recognized Tuesday by the 28th-annual Webby Awards with six Webby Awards and seven Webby People’s Voice Awards, the latter of which are awarded by the voting public.
The Webbys (the top awards for Internet content) honors excellence in nine major media types: websites and mobile sites, video, advertising, media and public relations, apps and software, social media, podcasts, games, the metaverse, and virtual and artificial intelligence (AI).
“We’re thrilled that the Webbys have recognized the breadth of NASA’s digital communications,” Marc Etkind, NASA’s associate administrator for communications, said in a NASA release. “To have a podcast, a virtual exhibit, live streaming, social and web all honored shows how our skilled and accomplished our team is. We’re especially pleased to see awards recognizing our reinvigorated digital platforms, including the NASA website and NASA+ streaming service. Together with the science website and NASA app, they are the core of our digital communications.”
The broad scope of the awards also highlights the agency’s enterprise approach to communications, the release said.
For example, live streams are produced and led by the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Each program, however, originates from within projects at NASA centers and represents many months of logistical preparation, rehearsals and constant review and adjustment.
Once the TV streams are set, they are hosted on NASA’s website and fed to NASA’s social media channels, where the agency team engages with the live audience, providing background context and answering questions. All the while, agency photographers are documenting the effort and posting pictures to digital platforms while NASA’s audio team is gather sound and interviews to continue telling the story via podcasts.
Since 1998, NASA has been nominated for more than 100 Webby Awards, winning 37 Webbys and 52 People’s Voice Awards.
The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.
Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences — a 3,000+ member judging body. For a complete list of winners, click HERE.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.
