The 18th Hong Kong Budding Scientists Award

Introduction

The Hong Kong Budding Scientists Award (HKBSA) aims at nurturing the talents of scientifically gifted/ more able students at upper primary (P.4-6) and secondary (S.1-4) levels, and providing them with training in scientific problem solving skills as well as collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking skills. This competition includes the Heat and Final cum Prize Presentation Ceremony. Student contestants are required to submit (i) a proposal to a future world problem / an authentic problem and (ii) a report on an interview with a local scientist (note: the focus of the report is on his/her vigor, perseverance and how he/she strives for success). It is hoped that students’ higher-order thinking skills, creativity and social and personal competency could be enhanced through the learning experience provided by the event. Students with outstanding performance in the competition may be recommended to The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education for consideration as its members.

Regulations

This Competition consists of the Primary and Secondary Sections; participating teams must be nominated by schools;
All team members are expected to attend ALL events of the Competition;
Participating teams are required to keep using the selected language (Chinese or English) submitted in the student application form to complete the Heat and Final of the Competition;
Each school can ONLY nominate ONE Team.

Eligibility

Primary Section: each primary school ought to nominate three to five P.4 to P.6 students (at most two P.6 students);
Secondary Section: each secondary school ought to nominate three to five S.1 to S.4 students (at most two S.4 students);
Team members CANNOT be replaced once the Student Nomination Form is submitted.

Application method

Applicants must ensure that the information entered is correct. Forms with incomplete or inaccurate information will not be considered.
Nomination period: From 2 October 2024 (Wednesday) to 29 November 2024 (Friday)
Press here to download the Student Nomination Form. Please send the completed Student Nomination Form to the Gifted Education Section, Curriculum Support Division, Education Bureau [Attention: Mr YU Ka-kit, Steven] by email (cdoge1@edb.gov.hk). Applicants may submit application through eForm.

Details

(I)

Heat

Student contestants are required to submit (i) a proposal to a Future World Problem / an Authentic Problem & (ii) a report on a face-to-face interview with a local scientist.

(i)

Proposal to a Future World Problem / an Authentic Problem

Participating schools are required to select one of the three Future World / Authentic Problems listed below and submit a proposal to solve the problem. The submitted proposal should include:

Introduction - briefly introduce the background of the problem;
Solutions - suggest and explain your solutions with evidence and further elaborate your solutions with diagrams, charts, tables, pictures and photos etc.;
Discussions - evaluate the pros and cons of your solutions;
Conclusion & Suggestion - draw conclusion and discuss the limitations of your proposal as well as suggest improvement on the experimental design / methodology, etc ; and
References.

Remarks:

Designed experiments with procedures, results, analysis and conclusions are expected to be included in the proposal. Students are reminded to take photos and / or videos in the course of the experiments;
The proposal must be written in either Chinese or English in accordance with the language preference submitted in the Student Nomination Form;
For the primary section, the submitted proposal should not exceed 1,500 words; for the secondary section, the submitted proposal should not exceed 2,000 words;
Total number of diagrams, charts, tables and photos of models/experiments should not exceed 15 pieces. All submitted diagrams, charts, tables and photos of models / experiments MUST comply with copyright laws;
The entries of this competition must be original and must not infringe any copyrighted materials. Schools are not allowed to submit students’ products which have been used/ will be used in other competitions in this school year for the Hong Kong Budding Scientists Award;
Marks would be deducted if a proposal exceeds the word limit;
Words used for the illustration of photos, diagrams, etc., would not be counted towards the word limit.

Download Problems of the Heat

(ii)

Report on an Interview with a Local Scientist

Participating Teams are required to interview a local scientist and then compile and submit an interview report which includes students’ reflection on what they have learned from the scientist and the contribution of the interviewee to the society;
The scientists to be interviewed should be participating in current scientific research and have publications in renowned scientific journals;
The language used in the Interview Report should be the same as that used in the submitted proposal to the selected Future World Problem / Authentic Problem. The word limit of the written reports of the primary and secondary schools is 1,500 and 2,000 respectively.

(iii)

Submission methods

Please submit the files via email.
By email: cdoge1@edb.gov.hk (Attn.: Mr Yu Ka-kit, Steven)
Submission deadline: 5:00 PM, 28 March 2025 (Friday)
Late submission will NOT be accepted.

(II)

Final (Date: TBC)

Participating teams are required to present their proposals and answer questions from the adjudicators in the Final. Details will be announced later.

(III)

Prize Presentation Ceremony (Date: TBC)

Details will be announced later.

Project Sample Questions

Year

Date

Event

2024

Nomination period:
2 October (Wednesday) to 29 November (Friday)

Application method

Press here to download the Student Nomination Form. Please send the completed Student Nomination Form to the Gifted Education Section, Curriculum Support Division, Education Bureau [Attention: Mr YU Ka-kit, Steven] by email (cdoge1@edb.gov.hk). Applicants may submit application through eForm.

Download Problems of the Heat

2025

Submission deadline:
5:00 PM, 28 March (Friday)

Heat

Submission of the PDF files of (i) the Proposal to the selected Future World/Authentic Problem, & (ii) the Report on an Interview with a Scientist:

By email: cdoge1@edb.gov.hk (Attn.: Mr Yu Ka-kit, Steven)
The Steering Committee and Operation Committee of Hong Kong Budding Scientists Award will select 7 schools from each of the Primary and Secondary Section to participate in the Final.
The Steering Committee and Operation Committee of Hong Kong Scientists Award will also select 3 schools from each of the Primary and Secondary Section to award the Reporter Award (Interview with a Scientist).

Winning proposals and reports on an interview with a Scientists in past competitions can be downloaded from the Resources Download.

Information of interviewed scientists (Reporter Award) in past rounds of Hong Kong Budding Scientists Award.

2025

(TBC)

Final

Participating teams are required to present their proposals and answer questions from the adjudicators in the Final.

2025

(TBC)

Prize Presentation Ceremony

Awards

Primary and Secondary Sections

Champion (trophy, certificates, *book coupons)
1st Runner-up (trophy, certificates, *book coupons)
2nd Runner-up (trophy, certificates, *book coupons)
3rd Runner-up (trophy, certificates, *book coupons)
Honorable Mention (3 teams) (trophy and certificates)
Most Creative Proposal Award (trophy and certificates)
Best Presentation Award (trophy and certificates)
Reporter Award (3 teams) (trophy and certificates)
Best Coach Award (trophy and certificates)

Amount of book coupons by the Education Bureau, HKSAR:

Champion – HKD 1,500 (for the whole team)
1st Runner-up – HKD 1,200 (for the whole team)
2nd Runner-up – HKD 750 (for the whole team)
3rd Runner-up – HKD 500 (for the whole team)

Amount of book coupons by the Fung Hon Chu Education Trust Fund (ONLY awarded to school teams that submitted proposal(s) relevant to Hong Kong Marine Pollution Problem):

Champion – HKD 3,000 (for the whole team)
1st Runner-up – HKD 2,000 (for the whole team)
2nd Runner-up – HKD 1,000 (for the whole team)
3rd Runner-up – HKD 800 (for the whole team)

Resources Download

Collection of Students’ Proposals to Future World Problems / Authentic Problems (note: Winning reports on 'An interview with a scientist' are also included)

2019/20 - 2020/21 ( 32 MB )

2021/22 ( 73.1 MB )

2022/23 ( 92.3 MB )

2023/24 ( 84.4 MB )

Contact Us

For enquiries, please contact Mr. Yu Ka-kit, Steven, Gifted Education Section, Curriculum Support Division, Education Bureau:
Tel.: 3698 3477
Email: cdoge1@edb.gov.hk