Popular Vote

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge invites the world to participate in its judging process, via the Popular Vote. The top scoring video in the Popular Vote will bypass the Selection Committee phase of judging and go straight to the final round – where the winner is selected!

Here’s how the Popular Vote works:

On September 5, up to 30 videos, including the two top-scoring submissions from each of the 7 Geographic Regions (see list below), will be posted on the Breakthrough Facebook page and the Breakthrough YouTube channel and will take part in the 2023 Popular Vote.

Popular Vote Top Scorer

For 16 days (September 5 – 20), people around the world will be voting for their favorite videos. The entry which gets the highest total of Likes and positive reactions (Love, Haha, Wow) on the original post of their video on the Breakthrough Facebook page combined with their total of Likes on their video on the Breakthrough YouTube channel will be named Popular Vote Top Scorer and will automatically bypass the next round of judging (Selection Committee) and be placed in the final round of judging.

Regional Champions

Within each Geographic Region, the entry which gets the highest total of Likes and positive reactions (Love, Haha, Wow) on the original post of their video on the Breakthrough Facebook page combined with their total of Likes on their video on the Breakthrough YouTube channel will be named a Regional Champion.

Popular Vote Geographic Regions:

  • North America (US / Canada)
  • Central America / Mexico / Caribbean / South America
  • Europe
  • Asia (including China)
  • India
  • Middle East / Africa
  • Australia / New Zealand