To be honest I think the prestiege and the CV line item is the main motivation for the kids that solve these problems (beyond it just being an interesting probl

To be honest I think the prestiege and the CV line item is the main motivation for the kids that solve these problems (beyond it just being an interesting problem of course). The existence of the cash prize probably works more as cheap PR, making sure news of the competition reaches them. (I'm saying "$10k to your favourite charity" would work almost as well as "$10k for you").