**A previous version of story incorrectly stated that Canopy Scientific took the grand prize. The grand prize winner was Seal the Seasons.
Two months before globally renowned speakers took the stage at the annual statewide Emerging Issues Forum, dozens of high school and college students rallied their classmates, friends and family to vote online for innovation projects that ranged from removing litter from waterways and urban bee-keeping to fighting bullying and encouraging health living. Other student-led teams entered a general innovation contest (without the voting) to win cash prizes to take their projects to the next level.
One high school team and four collegiate teams won prizes of $5,000 (for high school), $10,000 (two fan favorites) $25,000 and $50,000 Tuesday.
Here are the projects and videos of the winners:
SECU Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation
Grand Prize: Seal the Seasons, the brainchild of a pair of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students, collects blemished produce from farms and cuts the good parts into pieces which are then packaged, frozen and sold to consumers.
