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This year’s winners and runners-up are an exceptional group of young leaders who are helping other people and protecting the planet in meaningful ways. They’re supporting underserved students, cleaning up our oceans, inventing medical technologies, mitigating climate change, and restoring ecosystems, among myriad other initiatives. They are doing so with deep compassion, utmost commitment, and tremendous perseverance. These young heroes inspire us by their example and remind us of the power we each hold to make a difference. We’re so proud to honor them and to welcome them to our Barron Prize family!

Ameya Kharade, inventor of HALO-Vox, with a model of a brain.

Alexander Du, age 17, of Pennsylvania, who invented IRIS (Intelligent Responsive Imaging System), a $170 wearable AI navigation assistant for the blind and visually impaired that is built into discreet, lightweight glasses. 

Ameya Kharade, age 17, of New Hampshire, who invented HALO-Vox, a brain-reading system that translates brain activity into speech as fast as million-dollar surgical implants — for $1,800, and without surgery.

Apollin Lu, age 17, of British Columbia, who founded Food Recovery Alliance, mobilizing more than 140 youth volunteers to harvest nearly 9,000 pounds of locally grown surplus produce and redistribute it to shelters and community organizations.

Caymus Maxson, age 16, of California, who created Trash Turtles to fight plastic pollution, promote sustainable living, and inspire environmental action. Her nonprofit has hosted more than 50 beach cleanups, created the #LeaveWith3 trash pickup initiative, and helped pass legislation to protect beaches. 

Emily Herra, age 17, of New York, who co-founded Veggie Nuggets, a climate activism group in Jackson Heights and greater Queens that empowers youth voices, strengthens environmental stewardship, and maintains a previously neglected 3,600-square-foot community garden. 

Everett Leigh, age 16, of California, who founded EverEverest, a nonprofit that supports foster children through educational programming, mentorship, and needed supplies. One of the country’s top young concert pianists, he has organized more than 50 benefit concerts to raise $70,000 to support foster youth.

Isaac Nelson, age 13, of Florida, who is restoring the coastal ecosystem surrounding the historic Jupiter Lighthouse in Florida after a retaining wall replaced the native habitat. He is rescuing mangroves, creating vertical oyster gardens beneath docks, and restoring native clams. 

Kaitlyn Tran, age 17, of Texas, who founded Rain Barrels for Runoff to create upcycled, hand-painted rain barrels to reduce stormwater runoff. She also developed a GIS mapping method to predict how different urbanization scenarios could contaminate groundwater.  

Katelyn Liu, age 17, of California, who founded WOW! That’s STEM to provide free hands-on science to underserved students. She and her team of 60 teen volunteers have taught 375 in-person science workshops and assembled over 13,000 STEM kits for students around the world. 

Apollin washing harvested vegetables.

Lidia Rak, age 18, of Florida, who is working to ensure that children with cancer are no longer overlooked in research. Her independent environmental epidemiology study and advocacy contributed to Florida legislation mandating a $30 million, five-year investment in pediatric cancer research.

Lucas Rojas, age 16, of Florida, who created LINKball: Kickball for ALL, an inclusive kickball league that allows the special needs community to experience the joy of playing sports. Each fall and spring, 48 individuals with special needs and approximately 60 teen volunteers play side-by-side as teammates.

Natalie Flaherty, age 12, of Minnesota, who founded I Stand with Anne, a global initiative that aims to transform Holocaust remembrance into daily action. Her work centers around bracelets she created that read “I stand with Anne, put a stop to hate,” a token of Anne Frank’s courage and compassion.

Nathan Tan, age 17, of Texas, who founded Shared Skies Initiative, a nonprofit addressing environmental injustice in Dallas, where low-income and minority families have been disproportionately burdened with air pollution for decades.

Sophie Kim, age 18, of California, who founded The Clean & Green Initiative, an online community that works to educate individuals on environmental issues and convert climate anxiety into local action. She has also created Bipartisan Bridges to address political polarization and raised $8,000 for Ukraine relief. 

Srihith Chennareddy, age 16, of Washington, who created MConAI, a low-cost, multilingual AI system for early Alzheimer’s screening that analyzes speech transcripts to identify subtle cognitive-linguistic biomarkers and classifies individuals as cognitively healthy, mildly impaired, or developing Alzheimer’s.

Luke and volunteers building custom play/storage tables for family shelters throughout Washington, DC.

Anakh Sawhney, age 17, of New Jersey, who founded Rice Kids to help break the cycle of poverty by removing barriers that limit children’s access to education. Her nonprofit partners with organizations in the U.S. and India to deliver education programs, nutrition, health support, computers, and clothing.

Andrew Ma, age 16, of Oregon, who invented ADAPT, a low-cost drought forecasting and early warning system for small-scale farmers. Using physics-informed AI, ADAPT predicts drought risk weeks to months in advance with up to 93% accuracy.

Apollo Wong, age 17, of California, who founded Glean On Me to fight food waste and hunger by harvesting neighbors’ excess fruit and donating it to local charities. He has mobilized more than 250 youth volunteers to recover over 11,000 pounds of fruit at 24 harvests across the San Gabriel Valley.

Daniel Vinegrad, age 17, of California, who founded Stop the Sewage to combat the Tijuana River sewage crisis along the United States-Mexico border, which contaminates coastal waters. His coalition of students has organized protests, arranged community forums, and lobbied at the state capitol.

David He, age 18, of California, who created a bioremediation method for breaking down ocean microplastic pollution using genetically engineered native marine bacteria. He has presented his research at the National STEM Festival and has discussed environmental solutions at Oxford University. 

Landon Hoberman, age 17 of New Jersey, who founded the Student Environmental Ambassador (SEA) program to help students launch environmental initiatives in their communities. Nearly 1,500 ambassadors across eleven countries have used SEA’s free toolkits to launch education campaigns, reduce waste, and influence local policy.

Leo Toake, age 16, of New Jersey, who co-founded Re:Imagine Inc. to transform food waste into a natural herbicide, restore native biodiversity, and mobilize community participation. He and his team have used their eco-friendly herbicide to help remove over two tons of invasive biomass. 

Luke Voss, age 16, of DC, who created Bricks4DC to bring community-donated LEGO® bricks and engineering instruction to every family housing shelter in Washington, DC. He has built custom LEGO® tables and stocked them with $8,000 worth of donated bricks, serving more than 1,000 children. 

Nethanya Fonseka, age 17, of Michigan, who founded Plant It Forward to help mitigate climate change by increasing tree canopy and preserving biodiversity. She has mobilized dozens of her peers to plant 863 trees and more than 9,000 native shrubs, among numerous other initiatives. 

Sophia Parekh, age 12, of New Jersey, who created Sophia’s Book Stand to provide free, like-new books to children in underserved areas. She has distributed more than 8,000 books, handpicked to match the ages and interests of the children who receive them.