Breakthrough Junior Challenge

Scholarship Sponsored by Breakthrough Prize Foundation

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is an annual global competition for students to inspire creative thinking about science. Students ages 13 to 18 from countries across the globe are invited to create and submit original videos (2:00 minutes in length maximum) that bring to life a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics or mathematics. The submissions are judged on the student’s ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in engaging, illuminating, and imaginative ways. The Challenge is organized by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, and was founded by Julia and Yuri Milner as part of their Giving Pledge to support science and the communication of scientific ideas.

Breakthrough Prize

The Breakthrough Prize was created to honor important advancements in the categories of Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics. The Breakthrough Prizes are sponsored by foundations established by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The Breakthrough Prize aims to celebrate the best scientific work and inspire the next generation of scientists.

You get it. You’ve grasped an important scientific theory, concept or principle.

Now can you share your insight?

An inventive video can get across complex material that would take pages of text to communicate.

To take part in the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, create a short video (2:00 – two minutes max) to explain a big idea in one of these fields:

• Physics
• Mathematics
• Life Sciences

Your film can take any form you like: animation, talking head, documentary, dramatic reconstruction, whatever. It’s worth keeping in mind that video is a dynamic visual medium – using diagrams, simulations, physical demonstrations etc. is a lot more effective than standing in front of a blackboard talking.

The videos will be judged according to the following criteria:

• Engagement
• Illumination
• Creativity
• Difficulty

If you’re looking for guidance, you can see some of last year’s top-scoring entries here and below. But remember, to show ‘creativity’ your film should be as original as possible.