Talented young thinkers were celebrated at the 2019 Cawthron Scitec Expo Awards ceremony on 24 October. This year the inclusion of both primary and secondary school entries saw a total of 315 projects displayed from 31 different schools across the Nelson Tasman region.

The Scitec Supreme Award winners are typically awarded to secondary students, but this year included Year 5 Mapua Primary School student Lucy Fillary, who was awarded The John Cross Best Scientific Investigation Award. Lucy was highly commended for her thoughtful community-focused project “Speed on Higgs Road” which focused on whether cars were speeding in a residential area. Earlier in the awards ceremony Lucy was award a 'gold' in the Primary Year 5-8 Research Awards, and the Statistics NZ Award for the best use of statistical information.

Students Zoe Bonny and Bethany Tate were awarded a 'Bronze' in the Primary Year 5-8 Research Awards for their study of 'Why is Sleep Important'. Rooms Rimu and Ngaio were awarded the Ministry of Inspiration prize for their Cellular Art presentation. Room Kahikatea received the Mr Science Award for their NZ Native Plant Rongoa Metallic Art and the Michael Wright Award for their Plant Cell Art.

We congratulate all of these highly successful students for their achievements at the 2019 Cawthron Scitec Expo Award event.

N.B: Photo courtesy of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, NZ.