nasaspacevideocontest
Addie Augsburger’s video won first place.

There’s just something about Washington teenagers and their ability to talk about space exploration creatively.

The Coalition for Space Exploration and NASA just announced the winners of their “Why Space Matters to the Future” national video contest and two Washington teens won first and second place.

The contest asked three questions:

  • How has space affected, influenced or inspired you?
  • What are the values and benefits of space exploration?
  • Why should we continue to explore space?

Olympia’s Addie Augsburger took the top spot, using a hand-drawn storyboard to show why space travel is important and how increasing population on Earth means that we need to find new places to live elsewhere. 

“Learning about space affects generations of people on Earth and inspires them to do great things in life,” she says in the video above.

Hailing from Steilacoom, Wash., Clyzzel Ann Samson took second place with for her video, which you can watch below. She talks about investing in future generations and how space exploration’s “heroes” have forced us to think beyond current limitations.

Both creative minds, along with another third place winner, won three trips for four: one to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, one to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama and one to Space Center Houston in Texas. They’ll have their videos featured on the Coalition and VisitNASA.com websites and shared with NASA executives and elected officials in Washington, D.C.

Perhaps these two Washingtonians should consider staying in the state and working at local space exploration companies like Planetary Resources and Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin.

Previously on GeekWire: Planetary Resources founder: ‘Humans will migrate off the Earth in the next 30 years … Life on Kepler-62f? How a UW astronomer found a tantalizing new world

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