First prize in the Blue Energy category went to Kristine Gjertsen, Ida Halvorsen and Nora Skreosen from Bamble High School in Telemark, Norway, for their idea to harness and supply tidal and wave power. Bamble also produced second and third prize winners, respectively, Birgitte Reime and Mari Hegnastykket, and John Henri Ørvik

The awards were handed out by research anthropologist Jørn Hurum, perhaps best known for his acquisition of a 47 million year old skeleton of a primitive primate he named Ida.

Sea power
Blue Energy focuses on marine renewable energy, such as wave power, wind and tides at sea. Bamble and Elvebakken High School in Oslo were selected to pursue Blue Energy projects with assistance from professional research environments.

A whopping 250 projects were submitted to both contest categories by students from all over Norway. A total 26 projects were selected as finalists. The three teams from Bamble were mentored by Jørn Paus, leading researcher in New energy at Statoil.

Blue energy
“The main goal of the Blue Energy theme is motivating students to consider and continue interest in, education and work with both the theoretical and practical facets of energy challenges and especially renewable energy,” says Paus, who also served as Statoil’s advisor to the competition.

The Blue Energy category is developed by Paus, professors John Grue and Atle Jensen at the University of Oslo, and Sissel Marie Holmern, senior advisor at Research Council of Norway. This year is the first time Blue Energy has been part of the Young Scientists contest.

The Young Scientist competition is for youths between the ages of 12-21 years and has been held annually for more than 40 years. It is the result of cooperation between the University of Oslo and Research Council of Norway called ProScientia.