The organisation behind the Breakthrough Prize has announced a competition aimed at school-age kids, called the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, which encourages them to get excited about maths and science, and to make a 10-minute video explaining a challenging concept – which can be an existing bit of research, or something they’ve done themselves.
The main Breakthrough Prize has been awarded annually since 2012 for outstanding achievements in life science and physics, and since 2014 also mathematics. The awards, founded by a collection of extremely rich science bods including Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin among others, are accompanied by a lavish televised ceremony with guests from technology, entertainment, business and academia, and presented to the scientists by Hollywood stars. Winners, of which there are several in each category, are awarded a prize of \$3 million each, and give public lectures about their work throughout the rest of the year.
The junior prize, which will be judged by a combination of peer review with the other contestants, then evaluation by selection committees and a final judging panel, consists of a \$250,000 post-secondary scholarship for the winning student.
Entrants have to be aged between 13 and 18, and submissions must be in English but can be from anywhere in the world. The closing date for entries is 7th October 2015. The competition is being jointly run by Khan Academy.