Frequently asked questions

Does my contribution have to include BOTH Webb and Ariane? No, you can choose, but we will certainly be impressed it you capture both elements in your project!

Do I have to be in the photo? No, but you are very welcome to be. Family pets are also welcome. Please make sure you have the consent of everyone in the photo/video. If you are an adult and the photo/video includes children, you must have the permission from the parent or legal guardian for each child.

Can I submit multiple photos? We would love to see your creative process unfold so do share updates with us if your project is taking a few weeks. Be sure to mention in your final communication about it that this is the finished product and ready for consideration for prizes. You could also submit multiple photos or a gif in your final post, if you prefer.

Can I submit a video? Yes! Just a suggestion, but a timelapse of you creating your #WebbAtHome mission might be a fun idea. You won’t be judged on your photography/videography skills, though, only on the actual creation.

Are there special considerations depending on which social media platform I enter via? We will accept entries via Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #WebbAtHome or by direct messaging us on the ESA Facebook account. Keep in mind:

-Twitter: we’ll be monitoring the #WebbAtHome hashtag from the @ESA_Webb account and will RT your entries from there (feel free to follow and tag us!).

-Instagram: we’ll be monitoring the #WebbAtHome hashtag from the @europeanspaceagency account; if you also include the hashtag #yourESA we will be on the lookout to add your entries to our @yourESA page! Don’t enter your submission as a story – we don’t want it to disappear and for us to miss it! Feel free to follow and tag us and make sure your profile is public for us to engage with your post.

-Facebook: you’ll need to send us a private message with your finished photo/video, which we’ll add to a public gallery on the European Space Agency Facebook page

Remember! By entering on your preferred platform, you agree to the terms and conditions of that platform. Please also see ESA’s privacy notice for social media: https://www.esa.int/Services/ESA_Privacy_Notice_ESA_social_media

Will my photo/video be used elsewhere, other than the platform I submit it? If you are selected as a top ten winner, we will contact you to check you are happy for your image to feature on esa.int/webb, and ask you to give written consent via private message on the social channel you entered, in accordance with our privacy notice. The article will be promoted on ESA’s social media channels and therefore may also feature on ESA’s Facebook/Twitter/Instagram channel.

Can I enter any other way? Sorry, but we are not monitoring e.g. an email account for this activity. If you don’t have a social media account, perhaps you can ask a friend/family member who does, to share your photo/video. Of course, you are welcome to just have fun with this activity at home, and not enter it in the competition.

How will you judge the winners? Small Webb-themed and other ESA-related spot prizes will be awarded for images that stand out to the judges as being particularly unique, so first and foremost, we’re looking for creativity and imagination! We hope you’ll spend some time looking at Webb and Ariane on this website to get inspired and we’ll be looking out for creative representations of the spacecraft/rocket’s structural elements, or if you manage to capture some of the mission’s science themes.

Who is judging the entries? Our ESA Webb Social Media working group, comprising ESA’s science mission and launchers editors and social media managers from ESA’s Communication Department, and Webb mission scientists and instrument engineers.

How will I know if I win a prize? We will write to you on the social media channel that you posted the entry, for example as a reply, asking you to connect with us via private message for your mail address so we can send you the prize package. Please note that we cannot guarantee delivery times – due to COVID restrictions we are not in our offices (where the prizes live) as frequently as we used to be, so there may be some delay between notifying you that you have won a prize, and us shipping it. Thank you for your understanding!

How many prize opportunities will there be? At least once a month between now and launch we’ll identify one or two projects that we’d like to commend. These spot prizes will be awarded ad-hoc during the submission period.

What kind of goodies can we win? Goodies will include things like Webb mission stickers, pins, magnets, brochures and other small items that we can easily mail.

Will there be a grand prize? After the closing date we’ll identify our top ten entries and showcase them in a dedicated article on esa.int/webb. Winning a spot prize does not automatically qualify you, neither disqualify you, from being included in the final top ten. The top prize will be – aside from bragging rights and the possibility that we’ll use your mission as a backup for the real thing* – an extra-large goody package so that you can share it with your school class or friends (when the pandemic situation allows again). We may also include the winning entries in further social media promotional activities around the launch or other key mission milestones.