STARMUS VIII Names Junior Hawking and Goodall Medal Winners

Valeria Corrales, a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, earns the Junior Stephen Hawking Medal for her work with the ValPat platform. Since co-founding the initiative at age ten, she has built a massive Spanish-language STEM resource, amassing over 240,000 YouTube subscribers and providing free pandemic-era education to thousands of students across Spain and Latin America. Her efforts to bridge the gap between complex technology and young learners have previously earned her a place on Forbes Spain’s 2023 Changemakers list.

The Junior Jane Goodall Earth Medal goes to eleven-year-old Aneeshwar Kunchala, a dedicated wildlife advocate. Driven by a childhood encounter with the realities of plastic pollution, Kunchala has become a prominent voice in global conservation. He holds three Guinness World Records and serves as a young ambassador for the National Trust. Through his work with broadcasters like the BBC and his role as the first young columnist for National Geographic Kids UK, he continues to champion the preservation of biodiversity.

These honors highlight the festival's core message that scientific curiosity and environmental action transcend age. The recipients will be celebrated during STARMUS VIII, held in Tenerife and La Palma from October 17 to 22, 2026. Under the theme "The Search for Truth," the event gathers global leaders in space, technology, and the arts to address the role of evidence and reason in modern society.