XPRIZE, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Disney Corporate Citizenship have announced the winners of the DISNEY BIG HERO 6 – XPRIZE CHALLENGE.  Open to young fans between the ages of 8 and 17, the contestants were asked to submit their creative ideas on how to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges using science, technology, engineering, art and/or mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.).   After receiving hundreds of videos, the 20 semi finalists were narrowed down to the final 6 winners – selected based on a combination of public voting and scores received by the 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 six young winners will travel to Los Angeles where they will get to spend three days learning all about innovation through 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 the finale will include a walk down the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Disney’s Big Hero 6.  They will also be given registration fees for the FIRST ® LEGO League for the 2014-2015 competition season and receive a Special littleBits® NASA Space Kit and cloudBit™ Starter Kit.

The real-life “Big Hero 6” winners are:

• Kamran Ansari, age 9, of Tustin, California, devised a product packaging rating system in order to educate consumers on the wastefulness of a product’s packaging. His system enables the consumer to make environmentally conscious decisions and reduce their carbon footprint.
• Jasmyne Mendoza, age 11, of Seattle, Washington, developed a solution to world hunger by constructing a biosphere where salt water from our oceans is evaporated and distilled into clean drinking water.
• Dominick Quaye, age 12, of San Leandro, California, proposed a way to generate clean energy through the use of a high-altitude power generator held in place by massive weather balloons.
• Chase Lewis, age 15, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, invented a way to deliver emergency smoke masks to people trapped in burning buildings through the use of a football-shaped pod he designed and tested.
• Carolyn Mennecke, age 17, of Rochester, Minnesota, proposed a more effective way to improve windshield visibility using ultraviolet light sensors to reduce the glare of the sun at dawn and dusk.
• Kelsey Ann Murobayshi, age 17, of Honolulu, Hawaii, envisioned an innovative solution to safer and environmentally friendly transportation through the use of self-driving “pods”.

These incredibly talented young men and women are the future of tomorrow and we at Chip and Co congratulate them and look forward to their future accomplishments.   Check out the winning videos here. 

My name is Loretta Garcia and I am the Entertainment Writer for Chip and Company.   Follow us for all the exciting news, promotions and special events coming your way.