OFF TO NASA

OVER a thousand entries from across Australia were submitted to this year’s Origin Ener Energy’s rg littleBIGidea competition. Run Running ni since 2014, the national co competition mp pet encourages students to th think nk n creatively c to solve real world problem problems. ms. Three young you ng students are off to the USA after being g na named national winners. The j judgin judging g ng pa panel consisted of leading biomedical engineer, en humanitarian, technolo technology futurist Dr Jordan Nguyen, Alison Stoakley from Engineers Without

Borders, and Fiona MacDonald from ScienceAlert. com. Head judge, Dr Nguyen, said: “Our three national winners are outstanding examples of how young people can solve some of the world’s biggest problems in creative and innovative ways. Between them, our three national winners have come up with clever, inventive ideas to help people with disabilities and address the issue of pollution and wastage. These winners and all our finalists are inspiring and show that the future of innovation in Australia is in good hands.”

The national winners are: Grade 7 – 8 Jasmine Eldridge, 12, from Allora State School ( QLD) Grade 5 – 6 Bella Winfield, 11, from St. Anthony’s Parish Primary School, Wanniassa ( ACT) Grade 3 – 4 Amelia Fox, 8, Brunswick North Primary School ( VIC) The students all won the trip of a lifetime to visit the NASA Kennedy Space Centre, Epcot Theme Park at Disney World and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Some previous winners have gone on to commercialise their ideas, while others have used the opportunities presented by the competition to further their study and career ambitions.

Register your interest for next year’s competition: www. littlebigidea. com. au/ little- big- idea- interest. html