The love for science has never been more important, and inspiring the next generation to embrace the sciences is what motivates the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. Young people can be led to pursue the sciences by being inspired by scientific theories and concepts. Founded by Julia and Yuri Milner, the Challenge is supported by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. Julia and Yuri Milner created the Challenge as a part of their Giving Pledge. They wanted to lend support to the sciences and help with the communication of scientific ideas. Students are often best at explaining scientific concepts to other students, making students the perfect people to support the sciences by communicating scientific concepts and theories.
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge
The Challenge is an effective way to get the sciences into the minds of young people and inspire and encourage them to go into the sciences themselves. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is an annual competition open to students all over the world between the ages of 13 and 18. To participate, each student must create a science video and submit it for consideration. A scholarship is offered as the top prize for each annual winner. Each video can be up to 90 seconds long and must bring a scientific concept or theory to life. The sciences that are included are mathematics, physics, and life sciences.
Julia and Yuri Milner's goals when creating the Challenge were to bring inspiration to students and their schools, promote the sciences, and bring their Giving Pledge to life. The competition seeks to inspire and spread a love of sciences and science careers to more students as well as convey scientific ideas to more people. Making videos is a great way for students to learn about complicated scientific theories and concepts and to communicate these ideas as engagingly as possible.
The Prizes for Breakthrough Junior Challenge Winners
The contest is held each year, and there is one winner per year as well as several honorable mentions. Several foundations sponsor the Breakthrough Prizes, which were created by achievers such as Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, Sergey Brin, and Priscilla Chan. The annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge prize given to the winning student is a $250,000 college scholarship. The teacher who inspired that student is awarded $50,000. The winner's school also gets a prize in the form of a $100,000 science lab to provide students with even more inspiration about the sciences. Each competition video is judged on how engaging it is and how well it teaches about the scientific idea as well as the effort and creativity that went into the video. Students need to show a great deal of creativity in these videos.
Because the competition is open globally, students from around the world compete in and win this competition. Past winners of the Challenge have created videos that were highly imaginative and effectively taught other students about science. The 2021 winner was Amber Kwok of Mauritius. The 2020 winner was Maryam Tsegaye of Canada. The 2019 winner was Jeffrey Chen of the USA. In 2018, the winner was Samay Godika from India.
The Giving Pledge and Inspiration
Julia and Yuri Milner joined Bill Gates’s Giving Pledge, and a key element of their commitment to it is this contest to inspire students as well as teach them. Introducing scientific concepts to the public is another goal. They believe it's important to elevate the profile of scientists as well as boost their prestige for the good of science.
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