YOUTH SCIENCE CANADA
Three Canadian students take top prizes at EU Contest for Young Scientists

Youth Science Canada announces that three young Canadian scientists have won top prizes at this year's European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS). Hanze (Louis) Wu of Richmond Hill, Ontario and Koral Kulacoglu of Thornhill, Ontario won second prize for their project FourSight: Analysis of Cancerous Genetic Profiles With Artificial Neural Networks, which had previously earned the Best Senior Project (Innovation) Award at the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) competition held virtually in May 2022. Annabelle Rayson of Sarnia, Ontario won third prize for her project Plankton Wars: An Innovative Analysis of Daphnia Genotype Biomanipulation for Algae Bloom Prevention, which previously earned the Best Project (Discovery) Award at CWSF 2022. Annabelle also won the 2022 Stockholm Junior Water Prize in August for her research.

"Congratulations to our three winners," said Reni Barlow, executive director at Youth Science Canada. "Ground-breaking projects and hard work have earned our young Canadian scientists' top honours, and we are delighted to see all of their hard work be rewarded on the international stage."

The 33rd EUCYS was held in Leiden, Netherlands, September 13 to 18. The event is Europe's premier STEM project competition for youth and represents an opportunity for future generations of scientists to gather. The event saw 133 young scientists aged 14 to 20 from 35 countries compete for the prestigious awards. Projects were presented to an international jury of renowned scientists. In total 80 prizes were awarded. Hanze (Louis) Wu, Koral Kulacoglu and Annabelle Rayson were three of 16 students to win top prizes in the competition.

"It is great to see Canadian students bring home top international awards, demonstrating once again that Canadian youth STEM is world-class," said Barlow. "Our goal is to enable all Canadian youth to continue to innovate, discover and pursue their interests in STEM."

From left to right: Koral Kulacoglu and Hanze (Louis) Wu receive their second prize award from Mariya Lyubenova, President of the EUCYS Jury (judging panel) and Anna Panagopoulou, director of European Research Area & Innovation at the Research and Innovation Directorate General of the European Commission during the 2022 European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) awards ceremony held September 17, 2022, in Leiden, Netherlands.

Annabelle Rayson, left, receives a third prize award for from Mariya Lyubenova, President of the EUCYS Jury (judging panel) and Anna Panagopoulou, director of European Research Area & Innovation at the Research and Innovation Directorate General of the European Commission during the 2022 European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) awards ceremony in Leiden, Netherlands, September 17, 2022.

EUCYS 2023 will take place in Brussels, Belgium. After three years of virtual events, the Canada-Wide Science Fair will return to in-person format in 2023, from May 14 to 19 at the Edmonton Convention Centre in Alberta.

For more information on Youth Science Canada, upcoming national and international competitions including the Canada-Wide Science Fair, visit youthscience.ca.