Janelle Monae & Parkland Activists Among Winners of Smithsonian Award

Smithsonian magazine, the flagship publication of the Smithsonian Institution, announced the honorees of the seventh annual American Ingenuity Awards and the launch of the second annual Smithsonian Ingenuity Festival.

Deemed “the Golden Globes of Intellect,” the American Ingenuity Awards honor individuals across nine wide-ranging categories: Education, History, Life Sciences, Performing Arts, Physical Sciences, Social Progress, Technology, Visual Arts and Youth.

The 2018 American Ingenuity Awards honorees are:

●      Tracy K. Smith, 52nd Poet Laureate of the United States, honored for Education

●      John Leguizamo, actor, stand-up comedian, honored for History

●      Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, and Albert Maguire, MD, honored for Life Sciences

●      Janelle Monae, singer/songwriter and actress, honored for Performing Arts

●      Scott Bolton, associate vice president of the Southwest Research Institute Space Science and Engineering Division, honored for Physical Sciences

●      Monica Ramirez and Mily Trevino-Sauceda, co-founders of National Farmworker Women’s Alliance and #MeToo activists, honored for Social Progress

●      CEO John Krafcik and CTO, VP Engineering Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo, a self-driving technology company, honored for Technology

●      John Krasinski, actor, writer and director, honored for Visual Arts

●      Parkland Survivors/March for our Lives, honored for Youth

The ceremony honoring this year’s winners will be held on December 5, 2018, at the Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.

The honorees will be featured in Smithsonian magazine’s special December American Ingenuity Awards issue, available on newsstands November 27and on SmithsonianMag.com.

“Year after year, the American Ingenuity Awards honor those on the cutting edge of American achievement, revolutionizing American culture by promoting societal progress and activism in their works,” says Smithsonian Editor in Chief Michael Caruso. “In the second year of the Smithsonian Ingenuity Festival, the spirit of innovation continues to grow, brought to life at many of our great Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C. and in New York.”