Sal discusses the Breakthrough Junior Challenge

Hi, this is Sal Khan of the Khan Academy, and I just wanted to let all of you know about a really exciting challenge that's going on. It applies to any student that is between the ages of 13 and 18 years old, anywhere in the world. So if you're one of them, you should definitely listen to this. Uh, but if you know anyone between ages of 13 and 18, this could be life-changing for them, so you should also listen and then tell them about it.

So, what I'm talking about is the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, and you can learn more about it at breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org. But it's a partnership that we have with the Breakthrough Prize. The Breakthrough Prize is essentially like a new Nobel Prize for people making breakthroughs in math, science, and major contributions to humanity.

As part of this, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge is all about young people between the ages of 13 and 18 creating videos that explain something about the universe that we didn't either appreciate before or know before, or something that we didn't know, but explaining it in a pretty cool, profound, approachable, maybe funny way.

And this is a really, really, really, really big deal. The winner of this prize is going to get a $250,000 scholarship. Yes, that is four zeros after the 25—$250,000 scholarship! So it'll pretty much pay for any college out there. The winner of last year's prize, Ryan Chester, he is now able to go to college on this $250,000 scholarship, and he got into Harvard. I could imagine that winning this prize was a good part of his application.

But that's not just where it ends. There's going to be a $100,000 lab for your school, a $100,000 science lab, and $50,000 for your teacher. So all in, we're talking about $400,000 for a video that's going to be 5 minutes or less that explains something in an interesting way.

And I really want to point out, this doesn't have to be something with fancy special effects or graphics. You can look at some of the finalists from last year; look at Ryan Chester's videos. We really care about how it's explained and the content. It could be a video like a Khan Academy style video, where it could be just a background and some writing with maybe a few visuals.

It could be you at a chalkboard, or it could be a little bit more produced. It could be some live action, whatever else. But the key is, is it explains something in math or science in a novel way, in an interesting way, and someone out there listening is going to win this, and it's going to be a life-changing event.

And more than just the money and the opportunities that are going to open up, it's really the chance to help the world. Because the whole reason why this prize exists is that we think that young people can look at the world in a different way— in a way that maybe people who've been in a field for a long time won’t see it. By looking at it in a different way and explaining concepts, it'll open up all of our minds and potentially even move the field forward.

And above and beyond that, outside of the money, outside of helping the world, which is a really, really big deal, the winners of the prize are going to come to Silicon Valley. They'll come out here for the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, they're going to get the ceremony on, they're going to get their prize on stage alongside the leaders in their field.

It's going to be nationally televised, there's all sorts of celebrities from Silicon Valley and Hollywood that are going to be there. You should look at some of the videos from previous Breakthrough Prizes; it's really a big deal. I bought a tuxedo just for this event, so you could imagine it's a—I don't own a lot of formal wear.

So once again, if you're interested—and you really should be—because it's not about production value, it's about ideas, creativity, humor, and you're between the ages of 13 and 18. The deadline is October 10th, so it's about 3 weeks from when I'm making this video right now. Go to breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org. I think you'd be surprised; this could be life-changing for you. And remember, 5 minutes max for the video.