Julia and Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Junior Challenge is an annual, global video competition that invites students to think creatively about science and share their knowledge with the world. Young people aged 13-18 can create a video of up to 1:30 minutes to explain a big idea relating to physics, mathematics, or the life sciences.

Young people are often good at explaining ideas to their peers, which is why the Challenge encourages students to create their short films in any form they like, from animation or talking heads, to documentary or dramatic reconstruction. They can integrate fun features like simulations, physical demonstrations, diagrams, and other creative ideas that switch the speaker in front of a blackboard for an energised approach to education.

What Are The Breakthrough Junior Challenge Prizes?

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge inspires its entrants with three high-value prizes:

·                     A $250,000 college scholarship

·                     $50,000 for a teacher who inspired the winning entrant

·                     A new $100,000 science lab at the winning entrant’s school.

Who Has Won The Breakthrough Junior Challenge?

Young people from all over the world have been winning the prestigious Breakthrough Junior Challenge since 2015, and the judges are now assessing the 2022 entries. Later this year, they will announce their latest winner, Space Exploration Champion, and finalists.

In 2021, Amber Kwok, from Mauritius, won the competition with her video about van der Waals forces, and Gornekk Suwattanapong, from Thailand, won the title of Space Exploration Champion for his video on what black holes tell us about time travel.

Other highly commended 2021 entrants include Ben Barnes, from the USA, whose video explores the speed of moving objects; Eojin Kim, from the Republic of Korea, whose video discusses how much fuel rockets need to reach a certain altitude; and Wangari Mbuthia, from South Africa, who’s video examines gene inheritance.

Why Did Julia and Yuri Milner Found the Challenge?

Julia and Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Prize Foundation hosts The Breakthrough Junior Challenge, providing young people all over the world with the opportunity to teach others about scientific concepts that interest and inspire them. The Milners launched this prize as part of their Giving Pledge to support science and the communication of scientific concepts.

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation raises the profile and prestige of scientists, brings big questions in the science world into public consciousness, and, most notably, inspires the next generation with scientific ideas that they can explore and develop. In particular, its Breakthrough Prize honours important progressions in physics, mathematics, and the life sciences.

In 2012, Julia and Yuri Milner partnered with Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, and Anne Wojcicki to launch the world’s largest scientific awards. Since then, these awards have consistently celebrated achievements in the life sciences, fundamental physics, and mathematics.

From here, in 2015, Yuri Milner teamed up with Stephen Hawking to launch The Breakthrough Initiatives, a suite of space science programmes that attempt to answer some of the biggest questions in the universe today. Are we alone, or are there intelligent life forms out there? Are there habitable worlds in our galactic neighbourhood? Can we make the great leap to the stars? And can we think and act together as one world in the cosmos?

These questions tie in with some of the questions that young entrants seek to answer in their Breakthrough Junior Challenge submissions.