2024-2025 Youth Innovation Competition
2024-2025 Youth Innovation Competition
Call for Entries
Teams of high school students will research real-world issues faced by local communities and develop a practical, sustainable, and innovative solution. The goal of this creative problem-solving competition is not only to empower students to apply their knowledge and skills for the betterment of their communities, but also to raise awareness of pressing issues around us. Teams will present their solutions at the Youth Festival in spring 2025 in Dallas.
RULES AND GUIDELINES
- Open to all high school students
- Teams of 2 or more participants
- Entries must assess a real-world issue faced by a community in need
- Entries must include a 5–7-minute video and a slide presentation submitted electronically by March 3rd, 2025
- Final on-site team presentation to a panel of judges at the Youth Festival in spring 2025
All submissions may be displayed publicly by Aga Khan Foundation USA (e.g. AKFUSA website, social media, and at sponsored events).
AWARDS
- First Place: $500
- Second Place: $300
- Third Place: $200
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Originality of idea
- Impact on the community
- Implementation feasibility
- Sustainability
- Overall presentation
Need Inspiration?
See 2022’s winning presentations:
First place: Team TechnoGreen (Aarian Dhanani, Pranav Mukund, and Kaden Nathani) for CubeUV, a product that disinfects and provides light to combat the lack of personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Second place: Team NexTech (Christopher Dycus, Azal Amer, Pranav Joshi, Daniel Walker) for the Port Stove, a solar-powered cooking surface.
Third place: Team Jamila (Nandita Kumar, Sarosh Ismail) for Jamila, an app that provides a domestic violence help hotline, local services, and other resources for South Asian women.