About the Competition

Innovate to Mitigate wants students or student groups to submit ideas about how to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gases.

People around the world are working hard on this problem. To meet the big challenges we face, we need good ideas from everyone. This challenge encourages young people to unlock their immense potential for finding solutions!

Students will submit a 2-minute video and a 1200 word paper to compete for prizes and earn recognition from peers, community and experts. They will answer queries from judges, and provide constructive critique of others' presentations.

1st and 2nd prizes of $4,000 and $2,500 will be awarded by judges for the best presentations overall.

A Public Choice prize of $500 will be awarded for the presentation that shows the most effective dissemination via social media. Dissemination is one of the goals of this project. We use a weighted formula that considers activity on Facebook, Twitter, and email balloting (for people who don't want to use Twitter or fb) to determine the Public Choice winner. We monitor this activity very closely and have safeguards in place to prevent improper use.

A Best Critic prize of $500 will be awarded for the presenter who excels at providing constructive critique to his/her peers. The Best Critic award is designed to encourage a rich discussion in this forum. We will be looking out for participants who:
- ask questions or make comments that elicit further thinking or explanation from others
- make sound observations about the scientific merit of the project
- provide constructive critique about the project's feasibility.