Teens can innovate too

Innovation can happen at any age—that’s why the Ontario Science Centre (OSC), supported by The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, created the Weston Youth Innovation Award, an annual award program that recognizes an individual or group of teenagers who have come up with a great new idea to tackle a problem facing our planet.

What will it take to win the 2010 Weston Youth Innovation Award? Creativity, ingenuity and a commitment to creating a better Earth through science and/or technology.

Judges are looking for individuals or groups who:

• are between the ages of 14 and 18;
• have used science and/or technology as the basis for developing creative and innovative ideas aimed at solving real-world problems; and
• put their ideas into action, and as a result, have had a positive impact either in their own community or on a broader scale.

Eden Full, winner of the inaugural 2009 Weston Youth Innovation Award, created and built a passive solar tracker that moves solar panels towards the sun using environmentally friendly and inexpensive products that can commonly be found in developing countries… a pretty innovative project for a grade 12 student.

Entries for the 2010 Weston Youth Innovation Award are due on January 31. The winner will receive:

• A  $2000 cash prize
• The chance to work with an OSC multimedia team to create an animation that will showcase the winner’s project and work. The animation will be on display at the OSC for up to one year (where it can be seen by over one million visitors)
• A one-year student membership to the OSC (which provides access to over 300 science museums around the world)
• Recognition on the OSC’s website

For more information or to submit your project, visit ontariosciencecentre.ca/innovationaward.