Grand Award Categories

Curiosity & Ingenuity

Digital Technology

Engineering, Energy & Sustainability

Health & Healing

Environment, Climate & Sustainable Resources

Projects in this category showcase the joy of discovery and original thinking. This is the “open creativity” category for projects driven by curiosity, imagination, and problem-solving. It recognizes ideas that don’t fit neatly into other categories but demonstrate clever thinking, inventive design, or unique approaches to understanding the world. 

Projects that involve coding, robotics, cybersecurity, electronics, artificial intelligence, sensors, or the development of apps, games, and virtual reality environments. This category highlights how digital and computational technologies can be used to solve real-world problems, analyze data, and create innovative tools and systems. 

Projects that focus on renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, and sustainable or transformative technologies that reduce environmental impact, drawing from engineering, physics, and chemistry, including bioengineering, environmental engineering, and materials chemistry. This category includes topics such as solar, wind, hydro, bioenergy, battery design, bioproduction, green chemistry, circular design, and strategies to reduce emissions and improve energy resilience.

Projects that investigate human, animal, plant, or community health through biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and medicinal chemistry, including how diseases develop, spread, and can be diagnosed, treated, or prevented using tools such as microbiology, epidemiology, pharmacology, diagnostics, and medical technologies. This category also includes evidence-based studies of physical and mental health, environmental and community health, and respectful engagement with Indigenous health knowledge, recognizing work that advances scientific understanding and supports healthier individuals, environments, and communities.

Projects that explore how we understand, protect, and responsibly manage the natural world, including ecosystems, wildlife, forests, water, soils, climate processes, and challenges such as pollution, conservation, wildfire, and climate change. This category also recognizes work on sustainable resource stewardship—integrating science, technology, and Indigenous land-based knowledge—that advances understanding of Central and Northern BC’s environments and supports long-term, science-informed decision-making.

Atmospheric & Space Science

Projects that explore the atmosphere, weather, flight, space exploration, astronomy, and technologies that help us understand the universe. This category recognizes creative investigations into topics such as the physics of motion, aircraft and drone design, rockets, satellites, and planetary environments.

Agriculture, Fisheries & Food Security

Projects that explore how food is grown, harvested, and sustained in Central and Northern BC’s unique environments, including agriculture, greenhouse systems, fisheries, wildlife management, and sustainable hunting and harvesting practices. This category recognizes work that strengthens local and culturally important food systems, supports food sovereignty, and promotes long-term, resilient access to nutritious food through both scientific investigation and local knowledge.