10 Years of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge - Building the Next Generation of Science Communicators

A decade ago, Julia and Yuri Milner launched an experiment: What if you asked teenagers around the world to explain complex scientific concepts in two-minute videos? Would they rise to the challenge?

Ten years and more than 30,000 student submissions later, the answer is unequivocal. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge has become one of the world's most successful science education initiatives—cultivating a generation of young communicators who are proving that breakthrough ideas don't require PhD credentials to share.

By the Numbers

The scale of the competition's impact is striking:

Over 100,000 students, parents, and teachers have engaged with the challenge across more than 200 countries—from Canada to India, Mauritius to Peru, the Philippines to Singapore. The program has awarded more than $2.5 million in college scholarships, $1 million for science labs in schools, and $500,000 in prizes for inspiring teachers.

Previous winners have tackled subjects ranging from Einstein's Theory of Relativity to circadian rhythms, neutrino astronomy to quantum physics. Their videos have collectively reached millions of viewers, making complex science accessible to audiences who might never open a textbook.

And the alumni? They've gone on to attend MIT, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford—carrying forward the communication skills they honed as teenagers.

More Than a Competition

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge reflects a core principle in Yuri Milner's Eureka Manifesto: science education should tell a connected story, not present fragmented facts.

"Focus education on the Universal Story and use the power of art to tell it," the Manifesto urges. Young people are more likely to engage with science when they understand it as part of a larger narrative—the story of our universe, our planet, and our civilization.

The video format is deliberate. While scientific papers communicate findings to specialists, video reaches everyone. The challenge trains students not just to understand science, but to make it compelling—a skill desperately needed in an era of misinformation and declining scientific literacy.

The 2024 Winner

This year's winner exemplifies the program's potential. Jasmine Eyal, a 16-year-old from Singapore, created a video explaining mechanogenetic cellular engineering—inspired by her grandmother's struggle with Type 1 diabetes. The video is, in Julia Milner's words, "smart, original and funny."

Jasmine's $400,000 prize package includes a $250,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 award for her teacher, and a $100,000 science lab for Community High School in Brooklyn. She was a finalist once before, in 2023—proof that persistence matters as much as talent.

The selection committee that chose her includes astronauts Mae Jemison, Scott Kelly, and Nicole Stott; Khan Academy founder Sal Khan; Fields Medal-level mathematician Terence Tao; and multiple Breakthrough Prize laureates. These are people who know what scientific excellence looks like—and who recognize it in a teenager's two-minute video.

A Pipeline to the Future

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is one piece of Yuri Milner's broader philanthropic ecosystem. The Breakthrough Prize celebrates established researchers. The Breakthrough Initiatives fund ambitious scientific programs. Tech For Refugees applies technology to humanitarian challenges.

Together, these initiatives form a pipeline: inspiring young people, supporting emerging talent, celebrating achievement, and funding the research that pushes humanity forward.

"The human adventure has barely begun," Milner wrote in his Giving Pledge letter. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is how he's ensuring the next generation is ready to continue it.

Ten years in, the experiment is working. The only question now is what the next decade will bring—and which teenager, in which country, will create the next video that changes how we see the world.

Education