Science magazine Scientific American has announced the winners of the second annual Scientific American Science in Action Award, powered by the Google Science Fair.
Elif Bilgin from Turkey, was declared the winner of the second annual Scientific American Science in Action Award. Bilgin won for her project, Going Bananas! Using Banana Peels in the Production of Bio-Plastic as a Replacement for Traditional Petroleum-Based Plastic.
In addition to the $50,000 prize, Bilgin will have access to a year's mentorship and is invited to Google's California headquarters in September to compete in the 15-to-16-year-old age category in the overall Google Science Fair.
Scientific American's independent judging panel elected Bilgin from a pool of 15 Scientific American Science in Action Award finalists who were culled from thousands of submissions from more than 120 countries for the 2013 Google Science Fair.
Science in Action Award finalist Ann Makosinski from Canada is also a Google Science Fair finalist in the 15-to-16-year-old age category. For her project, Makosinski created a flashlight that runs solely on the heat of the human hand.
In September Bilgin and Makosinski will travel to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., to present their projects to an international panel of finalist judges, including science luminaries, technology innovators and Nobel laureates. They will compete for prizes that include: $100,000 in scholarship funds; real-life experiences at CERN, Google or the LEGO Group; a trip to the Galápagos Islands courtesy of National Geographic Expeditions; and a $10,000 grant to the Grand Prize winner's school.
Scientific American has been a partner with the Google Science Fair, an annual international online competition, since it launched in 2011. The Scientific American Science in Action Award was created to recognise a project that can make a practical difference by addressing an environmental, health or resources challenge.
