A prize with a different test
Most science-fair prizes reward a result. The Science in Action award, given by Scientific American as part of the Google Science Fair, was attached instead to a project's usefulness, and its structure shows it: $50,000 in prize funds and a year's mentorship to explore how the project could help the lives of subsistence farmers in Swaziland and around the world.
Mahlalela and Shongwe won it in 2012. The award did not end their run in the competition, because Science in Action winners remained eligible for the fair's category and grand prizes.
Growing without soil, cheaply
The project is described by the competition in one line: it explores an affordable way to provide hydroponics to poor subsistence farmers. Hydroponics means growing plants without soil, a method that normally depends on equipment a smallholder cannot buy.
The judgement the pair invited, therefore, was not whether the technique works but whether it can be made cheap enough to matter to a farmer with no capital. The sources do not set out the design, the materials or any yield figures, so none are reproduced here.
Fifteen finalists, one week in California
The Google Science Fair ran as a global online competition that produced fifteen finalists across three age groups. All of them were invited to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, in July 2012 to present their projects to an international panel of finalist judges, and the final was held on 23 July.
In the 13 to 14 group the pair competed against Sumit Singh of India, Alexy Klozkov and Milena Klimenko of Ukraine, Martin Schneider and Joshua Li of the United States, and Jonah Kohn, who won the category with a tactile sound device for people with hearing loss. Brittany Wenger of the United States took the grand prize.
Why it was noticed
A finalist list drawn from a worldwide online entry is rarely evenly distributed, and an entry from Swaziland reaching the last fifteen was the kind of result the competition's organisers pointed to. Prizes at the 2012 fair came from Google and its partners CERN, LEGO, National Geographic and Scientific American.
The mentorship attached to the money is the part that distinguishes this award. It treats a schoolchild's project as the start of something to be developed rather than as a finished exhibit, which is unusual in competitions for this age group.
What is documented - and what is not
This page rests on two posts published by the Google Science Fair itself. They record the award, the prize money, the mentorship, the one-line project description, the age category, the date and the venue.
They do not give a birth year, a school, a home town, a photograph or a quotation, and nothing in the sources used here describes what happened after 2012, to the project or to Mahlalela. The sources name the country Swaziland; it is listed here as Eswatini, the name in use today.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rishi Shiv Prasanna | India | Winning the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in 2023 at eight, for… | Age 0 |
| Cannan Huey-You | United States | Presenting research on a Milky Way gas cloud at the American Astronomical… | Age 11 |
| Ángela Olazarán Laureano | Mexico | An AI medical assistant built in Veracruz, designed to work where there is | Age 14 |
| Émer Hickey | Ireland | Co-winning the 2014 Google Science Fair grand prize | Age 16 |
| Bonkhe Mahlalela | Eswatini | Scientific American Science in Action award, 2012 Google Science Fair | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won the Scientific American Science in Action award at the 2012 Google Science Fair with Sakhiwe Shongwe (Google Science Fair blog)
- The award carried $50,000 in prize funds and a year's mentorship
- Both were finalists in the 13-14 age category and attended the final in Mountain View on 23 July 2012
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No published birth year, school or home town
- No technical detail about the hydroponics system
- No documented information about him or the project after 2012
Questions people ask about Bonkhe Mahlalela
What is Bonkhe Mahlalela known for?
Winning the Scientific American Science in Action award at the 2012 Google Science Fair with Sakhiwe Shongwe, for affordable hydroponics for poor subsistence farmers.
What did the award include?
$50,000 in prize funds and a year's mentorship to explore how the project could help subsistence farmers in Swaziland and around the world.
What is the Science in Action award for?
It is given by Scientific American as part of the Google Science Fair to a project addressing a practical problem.
How old is Bonkhe Mahlalela?
No source used here gives a birth year. He was a finalist in the 13 to 14 age category in 2012.
Did the pair win the grand prize?
No. The grand prize went to Brittany Wenger of the United States, and the 13 to 14 category to Jonah Kohn.
Is the country Swaziland or Eswatini?
The 2012 sources say Swaziland. The country is now named Eswatini, which is the name used on this page.
Is Bonkhe Mahlalela on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article on him was found.
Where is Bonkhe Mahlalela now?
No information after 2012 appears in the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Bonkhe’s story?
Which award did Bonkhe Mahlalela win in 2012?
What does hydroponics mean?
Where was the final held?
Sources
- 15 Google Science Fair Finalists and the Science in Action winners are off to Mountain View — Google Science Fair blog, 2012-06-06
- The winners of the 2012 Google Science Fair — Google Science Fair blog, 2012-07-23
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
Discover More Child Prodigies
50+ stories of contemporary young geniuses changing chess, music, science, and art.
Explore All Prodigies →Related Child Prodigy Profiles
Sakhiwe Shongwe🇸🇿 Eswatini — How does a farmer with no money grow crops without soil?…
Shania Muhammad🇺🇸 United States — She finished a bachelor's degree at 15. A year later she…
Arvind Mahankali🇺🇸 United States — He spelled 'knaidel', won the national bee…
Deborah Quickpen🇳🇬 Nigeria — At 11 she beat Nigeria's women's field. She had been…
Sawsan Ahmed🇺🇸 United States — She took her teddy bear into a college biology lab at 10.…
Kerry Close🇺🇸 United States — Four national bees ended in defeat. The fifth ended with a….jpg)
