A video entry of Jeff Winxin Collado, a 17-year old Baguio City student who is attending Saint Louis University Laboratory High School, made the semifinals of a global science video contest that offers a total of $400,000 in prizes. His entry could advance to the next phase if it tops the “Popular Vote” phase.
Collado’s entry is among the 30 semifinalists that is currently competing in the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. It is among the entries of thousands of students who were tasked to submit engaging, imaginative and sometimes humorous videos to demonstrate difficult scientific concepts and theories in the physical or life sciences.
The contest got the contestants to think Steven Spielberg meets Albert Einstein.
Collado tackled wuestions as to how COVID-19 came about and what caused it to take over the world. In his video, Collado talked about the process of Zoonosis, pertaining to virus transfers from an animal to a human, and how that occurs.
The finalists’ videos are already up on Facebook, and the general public, can vote for a people’s choice winner that ends September 20th, about 2:59 in the afternoon of the 21st in the Philippines.
The video with the highest number of combined likes, positive reactions (e.g. “love”, “haha”, “wow”), and shares will be declared top scorer in the 2020 Popular Vote. The top scorer will progress automatically to the final round of the competition, bypassing the next round of judging and entering the running for overall Challenge winner.
Additionally, the pandemic-focused video with the highest combined likes, shares, and positive reactions on the original post will be named the 2020 COVID-19 Top Scorer and will automatically bypass the next round of judging and be placed in the final round of judging.
To vote for Jeff, his video can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/560920623933298/videos/614548419432219 and participation in ‘Popular Vote’ contest and support a favorite submission is done here: Breakthrough Facebook Page
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation is the organizer of this constest, the sixth annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge global science video competition. The ‘Popular Vote’ phase happens when all videos are posted online on their Facebook page and people from around the world are invited to vote for their favorite video in the contest.
The 30 semifinalists were selected from thousands of students who created three-minute videos on wide-ranging topics, from quantum tunneling and the mystery of dark matter to the structure of the COVID-19 virus.
Since its launch, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge has reached 202 countries with more than 60,000 registrants, and the 2020 installment of the global competition attracted more than 5,600 applicants. The contest is designed to inspire fresh, creative explanations of fundamental concepts in the life sciences, physics and mathematics.
For this year’s challenge, participants had the option of entering a special submission section focused on the science of pandemics. By establishing the new pandemic section, contest organizers gave students the option of exploring a number of the themes that ring especially relevant today, including epidemiology, virology, modeling a disease outbreak, the mathematics of exponential growth, the science of pandemics, immunology, and biostatistics.
In total, the 30 semifinalists hail from all around the world, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Korea, India, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Romania, Philippines, the U.K. and Venezuela.
The videos represent the top submissions following a review by the Evaluation Panel. The group includes two top-scoring submissions from each of seven geographical regions — North America (US / Canada), Central/South America, Europe, Asia, Middle East/Africa, India, and Australia/New Zealand — as well as remaining top-scoring videos from the panel’s review.
In addition to creating and producing their own video entries, Challengers must also participate in a round of peer-to-peer assessment, in which they score some of their fellow competitors’ submissions.
“The quality of the videos this year is extremely high,” said Julia Milner, co-founder of the Breakthrough Prize. “It’s really thrilling to see young people communicating these big ideas with such intelligence, as well as freshness and creativity.”
“The critical importance of science and math is clear this year amid Covid-19,” said Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy. “These videos will help people across the planet understand the nature and dynamics of pandemics and other phenomena. It’s inspiring to see bright young people from so many countries, cultures and backgrounds using their skills to help the rest of us understand our world.”
On Monday, September 21, the 15 finalists and the top scorer in the ‘Popular Vote’ categories (Regional and COVID-19) will be revealed. The top-scorer in the Popular Vote will receive automatic entry into the finalist round. Additionally, each of the seven geographic regions will have a top-scorer who will be named a Regional Champion.
The 15 top-scoring finalist videos will be reviewed by the Selection Committee, comprising: Ian Agol, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Laureate; Rachel Crane, Space and Science Correspondent, CNN; author and educator Lucy Hawking; Dr. Mae Jemison, science literacy expert, former astronaut, and Principal, 100 Year Starship; retired NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly; Sal Khan, Founder and CEO, Khan Academy; Ijad Madisch, CEO, Co-Founder, ResearchGate; Terence Tao, Professor of Mathematics, UCLA and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Laureate; Esther Wojcicki, Founder, Palo Alto High Media Arts Center; Pete Worden, Chairman, Breakthrough Prize Foundation and Executive Director, Breakthrough Initiatives; and Huda Zoghbi, Professor of Pediatrics and professor of Neuroscience and Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine and Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Laureate.
The winner of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge will be awarded a $250,000 college scholarship. The science teacher who inspired the winning student will win a $50,000 prize. The winner’s school will also receive a state-of-the-art science lab valued at $100,000. The winner receives the prize at the annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony, alongside the new Prize laureates representing some of the most acclaimed scientists in the world. This year, due to the pandemic, the ceremony has been postponed, and is now planned for March 2021.
For the sixth year, students ages 13-18 were invited to create original videos (up to three minutes in length) that illustrated a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics or mathematics. The submissions were evaluated on the students’ ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in the most engaging, illuminating, and imaginative ways.
By Armando M. Bolislis, with reports from Breakthrough Prize Foundation