South Korean student wins Presidential Award for fire-escape phone grip invention

What's the one thing you would carry to a remote island with you? If honesty is the way forward, most would say their phone.

While there was a time someone would have said an answer like a weapon or maybe their loved one, now, it is truly a mobile phone that lives rent-free with a person everywhere they go, especially during emergencies. And what if it was these phones that could not only help you communicate during such times but also save your lives? This is a question a 12-year-old South Korean teenager asked herself.

When it comes to fires, an estimated 8 million incidents happen annually. While on paper, everyone knows to stay low and cover their face with a wet towel to protect themselves from smoke and toxic gases, not all lives are saved by the strategy, as people are left unconscious before the flames get to them. What if you could use something that you carry everywhere with you?

According to The Korea Herald, Kim Ji-on saw a news story two years ago about a fire at a hotel in Bucheon that killed seven people. The victims, trapped on site, made final calls to their families, which got her thinking about what could have helped them survive the tragedy.

The answer arrived when she visited a local fire station during a school field trip and had a eureka moment. Upon learning from a firefighter that smoke and toxic fumes incapacitate people, she came up with the idea of putting a protective filter into the grip on cell phone cases. Fire safety guidelines often advise people to cover their nose and mouth with a wet towel, but Kim thought that someone waking up to a fire might have little time to find a towel and soak it in water.

“I thought that if we kept protective gear attached to a smartphone, something people carry with them all the time and even keep by their side while they sleep, more people could make it out safely in an emergency,” she explained to a local news outlet.

Upon learning from a firefighter that smoke and toxic fumes incapacitate people, she came up with the idea of putting a protective filter into the grip on cell phone cases.

With the help of her teachers at the Chilcheon Elementary School in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, Kim Ji-on turned her idea into a successful reality. She fitted a collapsible phone grip with activated carbon fibre and a nonwoven filter. These materials, respectively, absorb harmful gases and trap fine particles.

In the event of a fire, the device, when unfolded, can be placed over the nose and mouth and the user can safely breathe, at least for a while she acknowledges. “It may not protect you for as long as a real gas mask, but I think it can give you those crucial first one or two minutes to get out,” Kim said.

The fire-escape breathing phone grip won the Presidential Award, the top honour at the nation's 2026 Youth Invention Festival, beating out entries by older middle and high school students. Kim plans to donate her 3 million won ($2,120) prize money to help people in developing countries.

Launched in 1988, the annual festival has grown into the country’s largest invention event for young people. This year’s competition attracted 6,959 entries, of which 183 were selected for honours.

The school Kim goes to is a small one on Chilchendo Island in Geoje, with just 20 students across six classes and ten teachers. Despite its size, the school produced four winners at the competition, including Kim, with three other students taking gold, silver and bronze prizes.