Three pupils who represented Mitchells Plain High School at the Mayors Science and Innovation Fair claim they were treated unfairly and their project was overlooked by judges because the criteria was changed on the day.
The inaugural event initiated by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis in August is aimed at developing the City of Cape Town’s science and tech ecosystem among Grade 8 to 11 learners as well as celebrate and reward young innovators.
However, Grade 10 pupils Dylan Barron, Mihle Jijana and Janet Bosseko feel the competition was rigged.
They created an eco-friendly water purification system which they say will help poor communities who don’t have access to clean drinking water.
According to Dylan, they made it into the top 20 finalists but on the final day, he claimed the judging criteria was changed.
“When we got there on the day, a new judging criteria was issued without us knowing, we worked hard towards the one [criteria] we knew,” Dylan said.
The finals took place on October 14 at the Cape Town Science Centre in Observatory and Hill-Lewis was als part of the judging panel.
According to Dylan, the initial criteria was that the project must be relevant, innovative, sustainable, have an impact and have an effective solution.
But, he says “none of the winners had this, and the new criteria focused on the description of the projects, and not what it can do”.
Dylan says despite this curveball, their project still fulfilled the requirements of the competition.
“Our project aligned with the fair’s ‘Real-world Changes’ theme, and was a beacon of hope in a world grappling with undrinkable water,” he says.
Kayden Biernacki from Parklands College won first prize for a prototype device that helps distracted students focus better in class using vibration alerts.
Second place went to Aaliyah Sablay from Star College for her innovative solutions to prevent street light cable theft and enhancing energy efficiency of street light networks.
In third was David Lewis and Noah McNab from Bishops Diocesan College, who invented a carbon capture method to combat climate change by removing CO2 from the atmosphere and turning the by-product of this process into soap.
An upset Dylan told the Daily Voice: “Our project was the most innovative compared to all the winners, that’s why we say it doesn’t add up because their projects didn’t meet our standards. We have questioned the mayor and the judging panel on this and they couldn’t provide us with answers.”
Hill-Lewis’ spokesperson Lyndon Khan says no changes were made to the judging criteria.
“Unfortunately not every project can finish within the first three, and that also doesn’t mean these projects can’t change the world for the better.
“The City can confirm that there were no changes to criteria and that the outcome was fair,” Khan explained.