Since the day that the Google Lunar X PRIZE was announced, I've been telling everyone who would listen that I think students have an important role to play in the Google Lunar X PRIZE. Perhaps its that statistic I hear bandied about about the average age of those who put humans on the Moon during Apollo was 26; perhaps its the great role that students like my then-intern Brian Schoening played in the creation of the PRIZE itself; or perhaps its the immediate and strong reaction we received from universities like Carnegie Mellon and others.

In any case, though, when I said that, I was usually referring to universities students. That changed a bit as I thought more about the large number of very young students who came to our booth at Wired NEXTFEST, where we announced the prize. It changed more each time I received an email from some middle schooler or high school student who would like to compete. It changed a lot when I met the two high school students on the Southern California Selene Group and when I heard Alberto Rovetta of Team Italia eloquently talk about the youth and heart of Italy being involved on his team. Clearly, the youth of the world have important ideas to contribute to this prize, as difficult as it may be.

But what would happen, I wondered, if you gave the reins to a team entirely run by students? What if the model pioneered by Team Italia and by Astrobotic was applied to younger students?

To find out, the X PRIZE Foundation proudly partnered with the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics to create the 2008 Botball Design Challenge, which required students to study the Google Lunar X PRIZE, conceptualize a winning entry, and develop a webpage to promote their ideas. Though the students would not be building actual hardware, they would be required to study the underlying technological issues, present a rover design, select a landing spot, et cetera.

As part of our involvement with the Challenge, I was one of the judging panel. Now, the final winners have been selected and announced, and I'd like to congratulate each of them:

High School Division

1. Nease High School
2. Evergreen Valley High School
3. Greater Lowell Technical High School

Middle School Division

1. Desert Robotics Team #4
2. Highlands Intermediate
3. Whittier Middle School

All of the schools who entered produced something cool and worthwhile, but I was incredibly impressed by the work these winning schools presented. I encourage all of you to click through each of them. If children like these represent our future: know hope!

Probably my favorite over all is the Desert Robotics Team #4 website. Not only do I enjoy the comic-book-style layout of the page (though I might have chosen different colors), but the volume and depth of detail these students have presented is, to me at least, incredible. Full teams of well experienced professionals would be hard pressed to find anything wrong with the student's selection of a Dnepr rocket; and their rover design itself is very realistic. Ambitious, to be sure... but is that what this competition is all about?

My congratulations to the winners, to KIPR, and to all others associated with the competition.