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Space Topics: 25th Anniversary Gala Awards Dinner

Why Has The Planetary Society Created the Cosmos Award?

The Planetary Society has experienced first-hand the power of the popular media to focus the collective will. In 1980, Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was broadcast around the world to unparalleled acclaim and became a worldwide television phenomenon.

In 1980, just as Cosmos premiered, Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis D. Friedman formed The Planetary Society and our organization caught the wave of Cosmos’ popularity, quickly becoming the fastest-growing membership organization of that decade. Now, 25 years later, we remain the largest, public-membership, space-advocacy group on Earth.

Cosmos demonstrated that science could be presented accurately and without losing the entertainment value that kept audiences enthralled through the entire13 episodes. Carl told exciting stories of discovery and adventure, portraying the scientist as hero and the engineer as role model.

Around the world, people came to understand the PB & J — the passion, beauty, and joy — of science, to use the words of Bill Nye the Science Guy, one of Carl’s students who is now Vice President of The Planetary Society.

Carl Sagan is irreplaceable, but in years since Cosmos appeared, many film-makers, writers, reporters, and broadcasters have found their own ways to excite the public about science and exploration, and by doing so, they have helped advance the mission of The Planetary Society: to explore other worlds and seek other life.

We choose now, in our silver anniversary year, to honor those science popularizers (in the best sense of the term) and remember Carl’s achievement with an award named after Cosmos.

We hope to demonstrate that there is a value to media presentations beyond advertising dollars and box-office bottom-line. In a world where potboiler plots and over-the-top violence are seen as sure means to success, there is still a large audience yearning for media that inspire awe and wonder, and fulfill the basic human drive to know more about the universe around us. By its existence, The Planetary Society demonstrates that fact. Over 25 years, we’ve been joined by millions of people around the world searching for just that fulfillment.

With the Cosmos Award for Public Presentation of Science, we honor and thank those who have created outstanding media products covering scientific discovery and exploration. Quite frankly, we hope to encourage them to do it again and to inspire others to follow their example.

Cosmos was the touchstone, but a universe of possibilities remains to be portrayed.