After careful deliberation, the judges awarded the first prize cash award of $3,000 to Ian Bowden, age 15, of George Stevens Academy. Ian conceptualized and wrote the code for a program that could auto-pilot a basic, store-bought drone using artificial intelligence for navigation.
“As a middle-schooler I played a lot of video games, and I wanted to learn how to code so I wrote my first game, which was terrible but I’d started to learn it, and then I heard about the Pioneer Prize and that really made me interested in code.”
Mentor Match: James Rutter
Isla Day won the $1,500 second prize with a web-based game that enhances environmental awareness: Players interact with Isla’s animated page using clicks to virtually remove plastics from an ice flow, helping to preserve the home of an adorable polar bear; along the way, players are presented with 22 ways to make a difference in the real world.
“I had no idea what this was going to be like,” according to Isla Day, age 14, from George Stevens Academy, “But I learned a lot and it was good so I’m glad I did it!”
According to her mentor, Eli Baird, “Isla had this great idea and it was ambitious because she’d never coded before. We were impressed she took on this coding challenge: She learned a ton, animated her illustrations and made her idea come to life.”
Mentor Match: Eli Baird
Third prize of $500 was awarded to first-time competitor Khang Nguyen, age 17, also from George Stevens Academy. Khang developed a working prototype for a website that helps users choose which destinations align with their travel objectives, using factors such as budget, climate, and more.
Mentor Match: Eli Baird
Sam Bach, age 16, George Stevens Academy. This is Sam’s second year as a Pioneer Prize winner. This year, Sam designed, built and programmed a retro-futuristic clock incorporating cathode (nixie) tubes. Sam wowed the judges with his “impressive submission, excellent communication skills and technical execution,” which involved a “great integration of hardware and software.”
Mentor Match: Scott Miller
Second prize, $1,500, was awarded Ian Bowden, 15, George Stevens Academy. Ian — a first-year Pioneer Prize participant — demonstrated “great initiative and impressive growth during the competition” to create an integrated system incorporating a range of technologies and a back-end database for his cross-platform real-time transportation tracker, so that he and his friends would “never miss the bus again!”
Mentor Match: Eli Baird
Chloe, age 15, (George Stevens Academy) a second-year participant in the competition, created a web-based, personal environmental-impact tracker. According to Buck, Chloe impressed the judges with her “perseverance, gamified concept and potential for social impact.”
Mentor Match: Eric Sabo
Gavin, age 14, (Deer Isle High School) shined with his prototype for a custom-built fishing boat with an electric-only drivetrain. “His was an outstanding project with an incredible connection to the community.”
Contributing Advisor: Kim Larsen
Colton, age 14, (Deer Isle High School) was recognized for his web-accessible boat-driving simulator, demonstrating “great vision and flexibility in the face of challenges.”
Contributing Advisor: Kim Larsen
Daniel Lekan-Salami, age 15, (George Stevens Academy), was recognized for “the sophistication of his ideas.”
Mentor Match: Scott Miller
The Pioneer Prize gratefully acknowledges the contributions of so many in the community who breathe life into this initiative.