Aurora Energy Otago Science and Technology Fair

20+ years sparking innovation

One of our favourite events every year is the Aurora Energy Otago Science and Technology Fair. This year we were proud to celebrate our 21st year as the prime sponsor of this fantastic event.

We are proud to foster science and technology in the Otago region. Since 2004, we have been the prime sponsor of the annual Aurora Energy Otago Science and Technology Fair, supporting the thinking behind some of New Zealand’s youngest scientists. We congratulate the many students who participate in the Fair each year with the support and inspiration of their teachers and families.  

Previous winners of the Aurora Energy Premier Award
Best in Fair 

2025 – Ben Walkher, a Year 8 student from Balmacewen Intermediate, for his entry “Flood Buddy” — a self-deploying raft system that activates during floods, monsoons or tsunamis, using a container that releases a raft when filled with water.

2024 – Megha Senthilkumar, a Year 12 student from St Hilda’s Collegiate, for her entry that extended on her previous ‘Sleep and the wellbeing of adolescence' study

2023 – Megha Senthilkumar, a Year 11 student from St Hilda’s Collegiate, for her entry ‘Sleep and the wellbeing of adolescence: A national survey’

2022 – Matthew Petegem-Thach a Year 8 student from Taieri College, for his entry 'The Cubeinator'.  

2021 – Satoshi Tomita a Year 13 student from John McGlashan College, for his entry 'Investigating solar panel efficiency with shading'. He also took home an Aurora Excellence in Energy Prize. 

2020 – Olivia Charles and Maia Robertson (with help from Angela Fu and Chloe Heineke) Year 12 students from Columba College, for their entry 'Mummifying Rats? Of Corpse!' 

2019 – Aaron Hewson, Year 12, King's High School for his project on "Investigating Chlorophyll concentration of Hound's Tongue Fern at Orokonui Ecosanctuary" 

2018 – Ollie Meikle, Year 13, Kavanagh College for his project "Ambulance at the bottom of the cliff" an investigation into the relationship between leaf pigmentation and New Zealand's native horopito and predation at Orokonui eco-sanctuary 

2017 – Corrie Anderson, Year 13, Columba College for her project "Horopito: Insecticidal properties and chemical structure analysis of a New Zealand native plant" 

2016 – Aaron Nelson, Year 7, Balmacewen Intermediate for his project "RATs" – a Robotic Automatic Table-setter 

2015 – Samuel Hulbe Pulver and Timothy Hulbe Pulver, Year 7, Dunedin North Intermediate for their project "Do I look like a scientist to you?", exploring non-conscious gender bias 

2014 – Meran Campbell-Hood, Year 12, Logan Park High School, Dunedin for her project "North by North-West" on the detection of soil nutrients using digital photography of plants 

2013 – Grant McNaughton, Year 10, Logan Park High School, Dunedin for his project "Branching Out", testing a Leonardo da Vinci theory about trees 

2012 – Hamish McMillan, Year 13, John McGlashan College, Dunedin for his project "Will varroa affect honeybee diversity?" 

2011 – Ryan Whelan, Year 8, John McGlashan College, Dunedin, for his project on which food goldfish prefer and what food generates the greatest weight gains