Science is important, and more of the public should develop an interest in science. This idea has led to the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, launched by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation which was founded by Julia and Yuri Milner. The creation of this challenge was a part of their Giving Pledge to give support to the sciences as well as scientific ideas being communicated. Young people are often the best at communicating processes and concepts to their peers, and this makes the Breakthrough Junior Challenge perfect for fulfilling these ideals.
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a way to get scientific ideas out there to young people, as well as to encourage them to pursue the sciences. This is a global competition that is held every year for students from 13 to 18 years of age. The competition requires students to create science videos and submit them for consideration for the enormous scholarship offered as the prize. The videos must be a maximum of 1 minute and 30 seconds, and they must bring a scientific concept to life. This can be a theory or concept of science that exists in the life sciences, mathematics, or physics.
Julia and Yuri Milner have created the Breakthrough Junior Challenge to inspire students and help them as well as their schools and to fulfill their Giving Pledge. The competition aims to inspire young people to go into the sciences as well as to make more people aware of scientific ideas. The videos are great for helping students to learn about complex scientific ideas and to communicate them in imaginative and engaging ways.
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge Prizes
The breakthrough Prizes are sponsored by several foundations that were established by some of the best and brightest, including Julia and Yuri Milner, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Sergey Brin. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge, supported by the foundation started by Julia and Yuri MIlner, rewards the winning student with a college scholarship of $250,000, while the teacher who inspired the student gets $50,000. Then, the winner’s school gets a $100,000 science lab to keep inspiring and teaching students about the sciences. The deadline for entering this year was June 25th, 2022. The videos are judged according to how engaging they are, how illuminating they are about the subject, how unique it is, and how creative the video production is.
Past Winners of The Breakthrough Junior Challenge
Students from all over the world compete in this competition, and past winners have created amazing videos that have captured the imaginations of other students. In 2021, the winner was Amber Kwok from Mauritius. In 2020, the winner was Maryam Tsegaye from Canada. In 2019, the winner was Jeffrey Chen from the United States. The 2018 winner of the contest was Samay Godika of India.
Spreading the Love of Science
As a part of the Giving Pledge of Julia and Yuri Milner, the contest is run to both teach and inspire. It is focused on the big science questions and introducing them to the public. It is also to raise the prestige and profile of scientists who are often overlooked in popular culture. With a focus on the sciences, it seeks to get more kids interested in those big questions and discover their love of science. Inspiring the next generation is the main goal that drives the Breakthrough Prize Foundation to run this engaging competition.
