XPRIZE, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Disney Corporate Citizenship announced the winners of the Disney BIG HERO 6 - XPRIZE CHALLENGE today. Much like the characters in Disney's "Big Hero 6," people between the ages of 8 and 17 were asked to harness their creativity and come up with innovative ideas to tackle some of the world's biggest challenges using science, technology, engineering, art and/or mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.).
Hundreds of videos were submitted and narrowed down to 20 finalists. From there, 6 winners were selected based on a combination of public voting and the scores from a panel of judges: Dr. Ed Catmull, President of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios; Gwynne Shotwell, president and CEO of SpaceX; Dean Kamen, an inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of FIRST ; Anousheh Ansari, co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems (and the first female private space explorer); and Jon Snoddy, VP, Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development.
The real-life "Big Hero 6" is comprised of:
Said Catmull, "Watching the finalists' submissions, I was so impressed by the creativity and PASSION in each of their videos. It was an absolute pleasure to be part of this judging panel. We look forward to hosting them at the Hollywood premiere of 'Big Hero 6.'"
"At XPRIZE, we believe that innovation can come from anywhere and that the most effective way to address the world's biggest problems is by tasking the public to come up with solutions," said Trish Halamandaris, senior vice president marketing & communications at XPRIZE. "The creativity and ingenuity of the submissions for this contest reinforce this belief and prove that these young people are not the innovators of tomorrow but rather the innovators of today."
The winners will travel to Los Angeles in November for three days of innovation and inspiration, including a private tour of Walt Disney Animation Studios, a meet-and-greet with the creative minds at Disney Imagineering, a special Visioneering experience at XPRIZE headquarters, and a walk down the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Disney's Big Hero 6.
In addition, they'll each be reimbursed for one (1) contestant registration for FIRST LEGO League for the 2014-2015 competition season and receive a Special littleBits NASA Space Kit and cloudBit Starter Kit.
Supporting XPRIZE Partners include FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), littleBits Electronics and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
To view the winning videos, please visit https://www.xprizechallenge.org/us-en/base/viewentries.
ABOUT "BIG HERO 6" MOVIE:
From Walt Disney Animation Studios, the team behind "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph," comes "Big Hero 6," an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax (voice of Scott Adsit), a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada (voice of Ryan Potter). When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago (voice of Jamie Chung), neatnik Wasabi (voice of Damon Wayans Jr.), chemistry whiz Honey Lemon (voice of Genesis Rodriguez) and fanboy Fred (voice of T.J. Miller). Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6." Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring breathtaking action with all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Big Hero 6" is directed by Don Hall ("Winnie the Pooh") and Chris Williams ("Bolt"), and produced by Roy Conli ("Tangled"). The film hits theaters in 3D on Nov. 7, 2014. For more information, check out www.Disney.com/BigHero6, like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/DisneyBigHero6, and follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DisneyAnimation.
About XPRIZE:
Founded in 1995, XPRIZE is the leading organization solving the world's Grand Challenges by creating and managing large-scale, high-profile, incentivized prize in five areas: Learning; Exploration; Energy & Environment; Global Development; and Life Sciences. Active prizes include the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE, the $15M Global Learning XPRIZE, $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, the $2.25M Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, and the $2M Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE. For more information, go to www.xprize.org.
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