From AI-powered inventions to eco-friendly gadgets, young creators from around the world have once again amazed us at this year’s Coolest Projects online showcase. An incredible 11,980 participants from 41 countries shared 5,952 tech projects in our online gallery, and every single one showed creativity and commitment to learning something new.

Coolest Projects is an annual global showcase for young people who love to make things with technology, whether it’s a clever Scratch game, a hardware hack, or an app that solves a real-world problem. 

In 2025, we introduced a brand new AI category, supported by Amazon Future Engineer and Allianz, which drew over 100 impressive entries, covering everything from mood-sensing AI tools to jellyfish vs plastic bag image classifiers.

Last week, we celebrated all of these brilliant makers in a special livestream event. As always, a panel of VIP judges selected a few standout creations to highlight this year. You can catch up on the livestream here.

Meet our 2025 judges below and find out which projects inspired them the most.

Judges’ favourite projects 2025

Kelly Shiohira | Director, Global Science of Learning Education Network

Kelly is the director of the Global Science of Learning Education Network, a global group of scientists, researchers, and educationalists working to improve learning experiences for all. With a strong background in AI and education technology, Kelly was awarded the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy.

Check out Kelly’s favourites:

• AI | Can AI Truly Classify Stars? by Tikristi (TK) from the USA
• Advanced programming | AirSignal by Anvi, Ashar, Harish, and Yiliang from the UK
• Games | Chill Cat Studio by Amelie from the UK
• Hardware | Fishy Scrape by Chase and Solomon from Australia
• Mobile | Sleepurr – An Intelligent System To Enhance Health Through Sleep Monitoring by Theresa from the USA
• Scratch | Plasma Jump by Sanal Malimage from New Zealand
• Web | HTML web page on environmental sustainability by Kitso, Fulufhelo, and Rokunda from South Africa

Matt Gascoyne | Engineer at British Antarctic Survey

Matt is a software and electronics engineer at the British Antarctic Survey, developing innovative digital projects in some of the world’s most remote environments. From testing code in the freezing Antarctic to debugging with penguins nearby, Matt brings creativity and resilience to his tech work.

Check out Matt’s favourites:

• AI | AI Mood Detector – Spreading Joy with AI by Aisha from the USA
• Advanced programming | ScreenTamer by Vaibhav from the USA
• Games | Marble mayhem! by Neth from New Zealand
• Hardware | Stuck in balcony by Sonam Kashyap from India
• Mobile | Art Therapy by Haiyi Yang from China
• Scratch | Bob tries to steal the godly sandwich by João Gabriel from Brazil
• Web | Fetch & Find Web Apps by Maxmilian Hejna from Czechia

Ebona Eastmond-Henry | Augmented Reality Partnerships at Niantic

Ebona leads product marketing in EMEA at Niantic, the creators of Pokémon GO. With a background in fashion and television, she brings a flair for storytelling to the world of augmented reality and mixed reality.

Check out Ebona’s favourites:

• AI | CO2 Capture and Carbonation Production Simulation by Abdelrahman Ahmed from Sudan
• Advanced programming | Co-MYAKU’s 12 Zodiac Animals by Sosuke from Japan
• Games | SingSense by Thomas from the USA
• Hardware | The Smart Home System by David Tan, Anke Li, Eason Chen, Molly Wang, and Zen Cheung from Canada
• Mobile | DeliDineSoft by Steven from the USA
• Scratch | AntiPlastic Turtle by Tomas from Czechia
• Web | Dog Man: A Tale You Made by Maryem from the UK

Amar Kedare | Programs Lead, WPP Foundation

Amar leads digital education initiatives at the WPP Foundation, enabling underserved youth to explore tech through coding, robotics, and design. Recognised as the Young CSR Leader in 2023, Amar combines creativity, technology, and social impact to empower the next generation.

Check out Amar’s favourite projects:

• AI | RiverStream by Akari and Chiara from Japan and Argentina
• Advance programming | STM32 Based Autonomous Quadcopter: Building a Customizable Foundational Flight Controller for Autonomous Aerial Systems by Mikhail from the USA
• Games | Ocean Cleanup by Haseeb from the UK
• Hardware | Voice-to-Code by Alek from the USA
• Mobile | EBook by D Rajesh, S Shashi Vardhan, and K Kouslik from India
• Scratch | Haunted House by Hannah and Eloise from the UK
• Web | Humanitarian Crises by Chisimdi from Canada

Discover more projects and get inspired

Now that you’ve met the judges and seen some of the standout projects they picked, why not explore the full Coolest Projects 2025 online showcase? Dive into thousands of brilliant ideas from young creators around the world — and let their creativity spark your next big tech project!

In-person events still to come in 2025

For some creators, there’s still time to get involved this year, with in-person events coming up in India, South Africa, Ghana, and more. Head to our website to see if there’s an in-person event happening near you.

Want to know more about the next online showcase?

Coolest Projects will be back online and with in-person events around the globe in 2026. Sign up to the newsletter to be the first to hear about dates, deadlines, and exciting updates.

Thank you to our sponsors

Support from our Coolest Projects sponsors means we can make the online showcase and celebration livestream an inspiring experience for the young people taking part. We want to say a big thank you to Broadcom, Allianz, Amazon Future Engineer, Qube-RT, Avnet and GoTo.