The youngsters who were placed at the top of the ‘Junior Inventor of the Year 2008’ competition, have returned to the island after taking part at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2009.  Master  E G S Padmasiri from Ananda College, Colombo and Master Yenushka Madusanka Dissanayake from Gnanodaya Maha Vidyalaya, Kalutara entered the competition with the inventions that placed them second and Merit Award at the JIY 2008.  Chandula Padmasiri has won a Grand award at the Grand Awards ceremony of Intel ISEF 2009 on 15th May 2009 at Reno, Nevada, USA. He received a cash award of USD 1,000 for the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering category in addition to the medal and certificate.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, annually provides a forum for more than 1,500 high school students from over 50 countries to showcase their independent research. The Intel ISEF is the premier science competition in the world exclusively for students in grades 9–12.
Each year, millions of students worldwide compete in local and school-sponsored science fairs; the winners of these events go on to participate in Intel ISEF-affiliated regional and state fairs from which the best win the opportunity to attend the Intel ISEF. The Intel ISEF unites these top young scientific minds, to showcase their talent at international level and enable them to submit their work to judges of doctoral-level scientists.  It also provides the opportunity to compete for nearly $4 million in prizes and scholarships.
Commentators consider that for a JIY winner to be presented with an Intel Grand Award within such a short time span is itself a remarkable achievement. The other countries in the region have taken much longer time spans to be winners at the Intel ISEF.
The maturity of the JIY competition and the fact that it is a competition conducted island wide, with preliminary judging done at provincial level, has gone a long way in securing the affiliation of the JIY competition to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.   A majority of countries in the region has had to wait at least 4-5 years to get student inventors to participate in the Intel ISEF.

The JIY Committee thanks all those who helped to make this a reality and a great achievement, in their second appearance at the Intel ISEF where 1563 young scientist from 56 countries participated.
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