--- description: Smithsonian Magazine named the recipients of its 2016 American Ingenuity Awards on Thursday. title: Smithsonian Just Announced Its 2016 Ingenuity Award Winners image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2617ea7d5bcbb37/6988aeee524fc04c1fdfa47c/aziz-ansari-ingenuity-awards-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Smithsonian Just Announced Its 2016 Ingenuity Award Winners  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 17, 2016 8:20 PM CUT  Comedian Aziz Ansari attends the 2016 Time 100 Gala at Lincoln Center on April 26, 2016 in New York City. Comedian Aziz Ansari attends the 2016 Time 100 Gala at Lincoln Center on April 26, 2016 in New York City.Taylor Hill—FilmMagic  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 17, 2016 8:20 PM CUT Smithsonian Magazine [named the recipients](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/2016-smithsonian-american-ingenuity-awards-180961117/ "undefined") of its 2016 American Ingenuity Awards on Thursday, honoring a wide range of innovators [including](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6a65e68285a84bda9e5811ad7fe8c0e9/ansari-bezos-flint-heroes-be-honored-ingenuity "undefined") Jeff Bezos and Aziz Ansari. Smithsonian chose people in categories across the sciences as well as in technology, history and visual arts. [Marc Edwards and LeeAnne Walters](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/whistleblowers-marc-edwards-and-leeanne-walters-winner-smithsonians-social-progress-ingenuity-award-180961125/ "undefined") won the Social Progress category for their work exposing the water crisis in Flint, Mich., through widespread water testing and by publicizing the results. Smithsonian summed up their contribution [in the announcement](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/whistleblowers-marc-edwards-and-leeanne-walters-winner-smithsonians-social-progress-ingenuity-award-180961125/ "undefined"): “Without these whistleblowers, we may never have known the full extent of the Flint water crisis.” [Jeff Bezos](http://time.com/4487796/blue-origins-bezos-amazon/ "undefined") won the Technology award because Blue Origin, the spaceflight company he founded, created the first rocket to ever launch into space, land on earth and launch into space another time. Comedian [Aziz Ansari](http://time.com/aziz-ansari-modern-romance/ "undefined") won for creating and starring in Netflix original show _Master of None_, which Smithsonian called “a true American original.” And the band [OK Go](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ingenuity-ok-go-visual-arts-anti-gravity-180961102/ "undefined") won Visual Arts for its low-gravity music video. The winners will be honored at the ceremony on Dec. 8 at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. For the full list of winners, including space archaeologist Sarah Parcak and 3-D organ printing expert Anthony Atala, [read more here](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/2016-smithsonian-american-ingenuity-awards-180961117/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4575434/smithsonian-ingenuity-awards-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4575434/smithsonian-ingenuity-awards-2016/"},"headline":"Smithsonian Just Announced Its 2016 Ingenuity Award Winners","datePublished":"2016-11-17T20:20:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:53:51.688Z","description":"Jeff Bezos, Aziz Ansari and two Flint whistleblowers are among the award recipients","url":"https://time.com/4575434/smithsonian-ingenuity-awards-2016/","keywords":["Innovation","celebrities","Technology","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2617ea7d5bcbb37/6988aeee524fc04c1fdfa47c/aziz-ansari-ingenuity-awards-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2617ea7d5bcbb37/6988aeee524fc04c1fdfa47c/aziz-ansari-ingenuity-awards-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"aziz ansari ingenuity awards smithsonian","caption":"aziz ansari ingenuity awards smithsonian","creditText":"Taylor Hill—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4575434/smithsonian-ingenuity-awards-2016/","name":"Smithsonian Just Announced Its 2016 Ingenuity Award Winners"}}]}] ```