Prize Competitions

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Prize Competitions spur innovation by engaging a non-traditional solver community. Competitions can complement traditional research and target Reclamation’s most persistent science and technology challenges. Competitions use prizes to incentivize solvers to submit solutions and are open to a solver community that includes members of the public, businesses, and other organizations.

PRIZE COMPETITION - AWARD

Reclamation Awards $110,000 to Winners of Veg Out Competition

(October 23, 2024) The Bureau of Reclamation announced the winners of the Veg Out prize competition. This challenge was designed to find new methods to manage aquatic vegetation in canals, lowering cost and labor involved, while ensuring water quality and protection of downstream users. Read More →

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Reclamation Awards $184,000 to Winners of Counting Every Drop Challenge

The Bureau of Reclamation announced the winners of the Counting Every Drop Challenge today. The three winning teams, PMASS, Rahavi Brothers, and PGRAWS, proposed, built, and demonstrated their ground-based precipitation measuring devices through virtual meetings. The devices were then submitted to Reclamation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service for laboratory and field testing. Read More →

Reclamation Awards $75,000 for Veg Out Prize Competition Phase 2

Reclamation completed Phase 2 prototype development of the Veg Out prize competition and selected three solvers to move to Phase 3. This competition was designed to test novel scalable solutions to reduce cost and labor of aquatic vegetation management in Reclamation canals. Solvers selected to move to Phase 3 will share in the $75,000 prize purse for Phase 2. Read More →

Reclamation announces $500,000 in funding for Water Supply Forecast Rodeo

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Reclamation is launching a Water Supply Forecast Rodeo prize competition to spur innovation and advancements in methods for seasonal water supply prediction. Water supply forecasts are crucial for effective water resource management in the Western U.S. Improved forecast accuracy will help water managers mitigate the impacts of drought, improve hydropower generation, and meet environmental targets. Read More →

Reclamation awards $25,000 for Imperfection Detection prize competition

Reclamation’s Imperfection Detection Challenge sought portable tools to non-destructively evaluate the condition of existing fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite structures. Reclamation awarded Team Permittivity $25,000 for their Imperfection Detection prototype. Although the submitted prototype did not meet full award requirements, the novel approach showed good promise as a low-cost future solution. Read More →

Reclamation awards $255,000 to winners of river modeling prize competition

The Bureau of Reclamation announced the winners of the Divide and Conquer Challenge. This challenge seeks to significantly improve the execution speed of numerical models that simulate hydraulics, sediment erosion, transport, and deposition in rivers and reservoirs. Read More →

Reclamation Advances Team Permittivity to Phase 3 in Imperfection Detection Prize Competition

The Bureau of Reclamation is excited to announce that Team Permittivity has successfully met the Phase 2 requirements for the Imperfection Detection Challenge, which is seeking portable tools to non-destructively evaluate the condition of existing fiber reinforced polymer FRP composite structures. Read More →

Reclamation awards $160,000 for the Veg Out prize competition

The Bureau of Reclamation has selected phase one winners for the Veg Out prize competition seeking sustainable solutions to manage aquatic vegetation in canals. Winning ideas will share in a total prize purse of $345,000. Read More →

Reclamation awards $110,000 for a prize competition to reduce water seeping from canals

The Bureau of Reclamation selected two winners for the Water America's Crops Challenge for their ideas to improve water delivery by reducing water seeping from canals. Read More →

Reclamation awards $80,000 for improved precipitation measurement devices

The Bureau of Reclamation selected eight solutions to each receive $10,000 and continue in the Counting Every Drop Challenge. This challenge is seeking precipitation measurement devices that are reliable, accurate, low maintenance, and able to operate in remote areas in extreme weather conditions. Read More →

Reclamation launches new prize competition looking for aquatic vegetation management solutions

The Bureau of Reclamation is launching a new prize competition seeking sustainable solutions to manage aquatic vegetation in canals. Winning ideas will share in a total prize purse of $345,000. Read More →


Reclamation awards $250,000 to winners of the More Water, Less Concentrate Challenge

The Bureau of Reclamation selected winners for the More Water Less Concentrate Challenge, a prize competition that sought to develop innovative, affordable, and environmentally sound solutions to reduce the volume of concentrate and generate more usable water from inland desalination plants. Read More →


Reclamation awards $500,000 to winners of the Snowcast Showdown

The Bureau of Reclamation selected winners for the Snowcast Showdown, a prize competition for improved snowpack water estimating techniques throughout the West. Read More →


Reclamation awards $150,000 to winners of AMPS Challenge improving reliability in hydropower plants.

The Bureau of Reclamation selected two top solutions for the Automated Maintenance of Protection Systems prize competitions. Read More →

May 2022 Prize Competitions Recap

In The Spotlight: Streamflow Forecast Rodeo: In March 2022, Reclamation announced the 10 winners for the yearlong Streamflow Forecast Rodeo prize competition. Read More →


Reclamation selects phase I winners of river modeling prize competition

TThe Bureau of Reclamation announced the phase I Divide and Conquer Challenge winners. This challenge seeks to significantly improve the execution speed of numerical models that simulate river hydraulics, sediment erosion, transport, and deposition in rivers and streams. Read More →


Guardians of Reservoir

The Bureau of Reclamation announced the phase two winners of the Guardians of the Reservoir competition. The three winning teams advance to the third and final phase of the competition.

The competition challenges competitors to design solutions for removing sedimentation deposits in reservoirs. Sedimentation builds up reducing a reservoir’s storage capacity potentially preventing a dam from functioning properly. Read More →


Reclamation awards $435,000 in prize competition seeking improved streamflow forecasting methods

Reclamation has selected 10 winners from the yearlong Streamflow Forecast Rodeo prize competition. Contestants developed methods for making 10-day streamflow forecasts for multiple locations across the Western United States and entries were judged based on how closely those predictions matched the actual streamflow. Winners will share the $435,000 in prize money. Read More →


January 2022 Prize Competitions Recap

In the Spotlight: Snowcast Showdown: This competition launched on December 7, 2021 and seeks improved methods to estimate the snow water equivalent over the Western United States using near real-time data sources. Read More →


Contact

prize@usbr.gov



Last Updated: 12/12/24