Bengaluru Boy Wins Breakthrough Junior Challenge, Gets 2.9 Crores as Prize Money

Guwahati: At a time when Scientists across the world are keeping themselves busy in finding cures for Alzheimers’ and Parkinson's, a Bangalore based teenager Samay Godika is right at their heels with a breakthrough to fight the diseases.

Samay 16, a Boston native who now lives in India, became rich by a whopping $400,000 (approx Rs 2.0 crore) after he won this year’s Annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global science video competition designed to inspire creative thinking about fundamental concepts in the life sciences, physics, and mathematics. A class 11, student of National Public School-Koramangala, Godika,’s, prize winning video was an explainer on the science of circadian rhythms, called ‘the body clock’, and how it affects the effectiveness of medical treatments.

Not only Samay but his school National Public School-Koramangala will also receive a college scholarship of $250,000 (over 1.8 crores) and his teacher, Pramila Menon who taught him in his ninth and tenth grade will also receive a prize money of $50,000 (36 lakh). Adding to this, the school will more receive a state-of-the-art science lab of $100,000 (over 72 lakh).

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is for students across the globe between age group 13 to 18 years. It is basically a global science video competition that is specially designed for students who have a creative mind about the fundamental concepts in physics, mathematics and life sciences. The videos must be within a duration of 3 minutes. The videos that are submitted are evaluated on the ability of the student to communicate complex scientific ideas in the most engaging, illuminating and imaginative ways.

Talking to media, Samay Godika said that he feels amazing and unbelievable and is very happy to be among these great scientists. He also expressed his gratitude to his school and said that his school is very science-centric and the school have laid the foundation right from the beginning, shaping and guiding me to be the person he is today.

Another student Nikhiya Shamsher, 16, from the same school won the popular vote for this year for his video on spacetime and gravity.

This is the fourth consecutive year in which students ages 13-18 were invited to create original videos (up to three minutes in length) that illustrated a concept or theory in the physical or life sciences. The submissions were evaluated on the students' ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in the most engaging, illuminating, and imaginative ways.

Students from around the globe submitted their videos by July 1, 2018. The field was narrowed to 29 semifinalists who competed in the Popular Vote contest in September on the Breakthrough Prize Facebook page, where the public was invited to vote for their favourite semifinalist submission by "liking," "sharing," or posting a positive reaction.

Since its launch, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge has reached 190 countries, and the 2018 edition of the global competition attracted more than 12,000 participants.

Also Read: Assam School Girl Selected for National Children Science Congress 2018