Georgia Hutchinson, currently an eighth-grader at Woodside Elementary School, has been named one of 30 national finalists in the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars) middle school competition.

Georgia's project, which allows solar panels to follow the sun for maximum energy production, won first place in the state science fair last year.

Georgia will receive a $500 cash award and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the competition, and her school will receive $1,000 to use in its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program. In Washington, she will participate in team challenges, meet with government officials and show her project to the public during a free event at the National Geographic Society on Oct. 20.

Students will be competing for prizes of up to $25,000. Winners will be named during an awards ceremony on Oct. 23 at the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Finalists were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists and engineers from a record number of 2,537 applicants in 35 states.

First and second-place winners will represent the U.S. at the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS International next spring in Phoenix and attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the largest international high school science fair.

• See an earlier Almanac story on Georgia and her project here.

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