- Winning schools announced for Minister's Innovation Challenge 2025
- Students recognised for developing innovative solutions to local problems
- Winners will share a $35,000 cash prize pool
- Cook Government investing in education and early childhood development
Five public schools across Western Australia have been awarded for their creativity and ingenuity in the Minister's Innovation Challenge 2025.
The top five winning teams were named during an online exhibition this week and were recognised for their outstanding problem-solving skills and creative solutions to real-world problems.
Coodanup College students won this year's top prize of $15,000 for their Hotdog Lead, featuring temperature-sensitive colour technology that provides a clear visual alert to warn owners when their dogs are overheating in hot weather. This team demonstrated great depth of thinking in identifying the needs and fears of their customers, creating a solution that directly solves the problem.
Champion Bay Senior High School students took out second prize and won $10,000 for designing and printing an innovative plastic clip that attaches to bins to allow the lids to stay shut and prevent wind-borne litter in residential areas in their town. The team created a prototype using a 3D printer.
The $5,000 third prize was awarded to Lakeland Senior High School students who considered how they might raise awareness in their school community about the welfare of quendas. The team developed Quenda Quest, a fun, interactive conservation game that teaches players how to protect quendas by exploring habitats, avoiding dangers, and learning real-world conservation tips through play.
Christmas Island District High School won the fourth prize of $3,000 for designing a simple, low-cost Crab Sweeper attachment that fits onto the front of a vehicle and gently guides the Island's red crabs off the roads without harming them. It is easy to install and remove, making it a quick, safe way to clear roads during the busy red crab migration season.
The fifth prize winner was Denmark Senior High School, receiving $2,000 for creating a prototype of the Blaze Bag, and an App to help increase and promote Denmark's bushfire preparedness. This helps make fire evacuation preparation more accessible and easier for people in bushfire prone areas, so they are safer and better prepared in the event of a bushfire.
This year, 41 teams of Year 8 students from Western Australian public schools participated in the Minister's Innovation Challenge, now in its fourth year.
It was facilitated by Bloom: The Centre for Youth Innovation, a youth-led, not-for-profit organisation that provides innovation programs to young people.
Over a six-week period, school teams worked with an industry mentor to identify a local issue or problem and applied design thinking processes to develop innovative solutions.
As stated by Education Minister Sabine Winton:
"It is so important that students challenge themselves to think innovatively and creatively about solving real-world problems.
"I want to extend my congratulations to Coodanup College's students for winning this year's Innovation Challenge with their thoughtful invention that would be of huge benefit to dogs and dog owners.
"I also want to congratulate all the students that participated in the Challenge. I hope you take the skills you have learnt and apply them in other areas of your life.
"I'm so impressed with all of the hard work and innovative solutions that students have come up with, and I want to thank the mentors who worked with you to help guide these impressive projects."
