Electrotechnology Secondary School Student Awards 2008

The National Electrotechnology Secondary School Student Awards were presented by NECA on 17 November, recognising secondary school students who have excelled in their studies in the area of electrotechnology. The awards are open to students enrolled in years 9, 10, 11 and 12 at a secondary school in Australia.

The awards were hosted at NHP Electrical Engineering's premises in Laverton, Victoria, which also sponsored the awards, and were attended by James Tinslay, NECA National CEO; John Robinson, NECA National president; Steve Griffiths, NECA National vice-president and NECA NSW president; Wes McKnight, NECA Victoria president; Neville Palmer, former NECA National president; and award judges, Dr Bill Petreski and Wes Cassidy.

Tinslay commented: “The diverse and impressive range of electrotechnology project applications we’ve received for these awards demonstrates there are many young people across Australia with exceptional talent and technical abilities in a field where there are extreme skill shortages. The future looks very bright for electrotechnology in this country and our winners are to be congratulated.”

The winners and runners-up were:

• Winner:
  Tom Rowntree, from Coomandook Area School (SA) for an ‘automatic chook gate’
• Second place:
  Cameron Borg, from Catholic Regional College Sydenham (Victoria) for a ‘remote controlled lawnmower’.
• Equal third place:
  – Kirren Thompson, from Merewether High School (NSW) for ‘converting a Nintendo 64 video game to a portable console’.
  – Joseph Salibi, from Catholic Regional College Sydenham (Victoria) for a ‘solar powered, rechargeable vehicle with luxury features’.