The Realise the Dream awards were announced at Te Papa last night at a prestigious awards dinner.

Genesis Energy Supreme Award - a $7,000 cash scholarship and an all expenses paid trip to the London International Youth Science Forum later this year.

Winner: Stanley Roache (18), Onslow College, Wellington - “Optical Tube”

Stanley's project arose out of an unusual problem posed at the International Young Physicists Tournament. He set out to explain and model the development of coloured rings and bands that appear when you look down the inside of a long highly polished metal tube. With an exemplary approach of observation, explanation, prediction and test, Stanley developed a highly successful model that went well beyond the original expectations of those who posed the problem. His project demonstrated a perceptive and scientifically disciplined mind with tremendous potential. The choice of Stanley for this award was unanimous amongst the judges.

Recipient of the Peter Spratt Memorial Award ($1,000 Cash)

Morgan Archer (13) from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, Wellington – “Peppermint Power”

Morgan Archer examined if peppermint could improve the reaction times of people who were already fatigued or alert. Morgan showed an excellent grasp of the issues involved investigating humans. The judges especially praised her experimental design, her procedure, and her ability to explain her research.

Recipient of an ‘Excellence Award’ sponsored by the Allan Wilson Centre (2,000 cash)

Winner: Liam Ellis (18), Hutt Valley High School - "AVERT - Posture Assessment"

Liam successfully developed a mechanical and electronic device to monitor back posture and warn a user when that posture is potentially harmful. His device has stimulated strong interest from medical professionals. Also it has much potential in other areas from sports science through to computer animation.

Auckland Region:

Recipient of an ‘excellence award’ sponsored by the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Award  ($2,000)

Winner: Abhilash Kamineni (17), Mt Roskill Grammar School - “NSR Transfer”

Many people need to transfer computer files rapidly between memory sticks but are hampered by needing a computer to do this. Abhilash designed and built a small, pocket sized device that allows data to be transferred between memory sticks rapidly. His product has significant commercial potential.

Recipient of an ‘excellence award’ sponsored by DairyNZ ($2,000)

Winner: Nikhil Mashabade (17), Mount Roskill Grammar School- "The SpyNik"

Young children viewing inappropriate website material is a worry for many parents - especially if the children try to cover their tracks, or if the parents have only rudimentary computer skills. Nikhil developed a device to unobtrusively track the websites visited by a computer and display them to parents on another computer. Nikhil's device even allows the parents to remotely disconnect the childrens computer from the internet.

Recipient of an ‘excellence award’ sponsored by Technology Education New Zealand ($2,000)

Winner: Kevin Huang (17), Mt Roskill Grammar School - "Remote Control Lawn Mower"

Kevin showed an advanced combination of business and engineering skills to develop a radio controlled lawn mower for his grandparents to use. His successful device has appropriate safety and ergonomic features. The judges were impressed and so, we gather, are his grateful grandparents.

Recipient of the Peter Spratt Memorial Award sponsored by the Royal Society of New Zealand ($1,000)

Winner: Hannah Ng (15), St Cuthbert’s College, Auckland – “Stop Short-Sight with Sunlight”

Hannah looked for evidence of links between the amount of light exposure experienced and the development of myopia in teenagers. This was difficult research on human beings, and Hannah designed and used an advanced experimental procedure that will no doubt be used by others to follow.

ASIA NEW ZEALAND TRAVEL AWARDS to attend the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition in March 2010

Winner: Kevin Huang (18) Mt Roskill Grammar School

PROJECT TITLE: REMOTE CONTROL LAWN MOWER

Mowing the lawn is not easy for old people like Kevin’s grandparents, so he decided to solve their problem. Kevin has designed and built a fully functional remote-controlled battery powered lawn mower that works perfectly and has inbuilt safety features, such as automatic shut-down. He had to search far and wide for suitable radio chip modules that could operate under electrically ‘noisy’ conditions over the required range, and he faced mechanical, electronics and programming hurdles in getting all the technologies to work together smoothly. Car windscreen-wiper motors were adapted to the critical steering job and integrated with the drive train. Kevin showed considerable imagination in obtaining sponsorship (including a personal cheque from PM John Key) and determination in completing this difficult challenge.

Northland Region:

Recipient of an ‘excellence award’ sponsored by Statistics New Zealand ($2,000)

Winner: Samantha Stevenson (17), Kerikeri High School - "The effect of temperature on the feeding rate of bees"

Samantha explored the influence of temperature on the amounts of bee candy that must be supplied to queen bees when they are being transported. The project demanded impressive practical skills, and Samantha showed an outstanding ability to present and discuss her work.

ASIA NEW ZEALAND TRAVEL AWARDS to attend the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition in March 2010

Winner:  Samantha Stevenson (18) Kerikeri High School

PROJECT TITLE: THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE FEEDING RATE OF BEES

Samantha’s father is a beekeeper who exports queen bees. For bees to arrive at their destination in good condition, it is important to know the ideal temperature for transport and the amount of food required for the journey, as a standard bee cage has limited space and starvation can occur. Samantha’s project is notable for the thoroughness of the background research into how bees control temperature in the hive, and the sound logical deductions in applying this information to understand the issues when bees are transported. Samantha’s work shows that food consumption of bees would be halved if they were transported at 27oC rather than 20oC, but that they would not survive at 35oC, the temperature mentioned by text books as ideal for bees, because they would suffer dehydration.

Waikato Region:

Outstanding Award Winner ($5,000)

Jake Martin (18), Cambridge High School - "Magnetic Biocarbon"

Every now and then a new an unexpected observation sets researchers off in a new direction and excites even the most experienced in the field. Jake had built a gasifier to produce fuel gas from wood. He noticed magnetic properties in the biochar residue from this gasifier. This was a totally unexpected observation that he sought to explain at the molecular level. His results have drawn much interest from chemists, physicists and engineers.

Outstanding Award Winner ($5,000)

Nicole Steele (18), Morrinsville College - “Treat them to keep them”

Nicole's nomination arose from her Gold Crest study on the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment for mastitis in dairy cows. She carried out a complex and demanding project that examined treatment duration, antibiotic resistance in the disease organisms, and technology transfer to farmers. She impressed the judges with the thoroughness of her approach, her application of statistics, the depth and breadth of her understanding, and her ability to explain the project succinctly.

ASIA NEW ZEALAND TRAVEL AWARDS to attend the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition in March 2010

Winner: Nicole Steele (18) Morrinsville College

PROJECT TITLE: TREAT THEM TO KEEP THEM

Mastitis is an ongoing issue in dairy herds with significant impact on milk quality, cow health and lost production. Using cell counts in milk, Nicole identified 92 cows with sub-clinical mastitis, and a trial conducted to determine the efficacy of the drug Mamyzin for mastitis control. The cure rate was 16% without treatment and 56% after six treatments. Bacterial strains isolated from infected cows were evaluated for drug resistance. DNA was extracted and amplified using polymerase chain reaction techniques (PCR) to test for a gene that breaks down penicillin. Only two of 60 strains tested possessed the gene, but 24 strains exhibited growth in the presence of penicillin, indicating a different resistance mechanism. This result was unexpected.

Winner: Rebecca van Rooyen (18) Morrinsville College

PROJECT TITLE: AGILE ATHLETES

Agility, or ability to change direction at speed, is an important skill for a netballer to develop. A combination of video and light gates to analyze the biomechanics of the technical agility (turn and sprint) of netball players was devised. Then an agility-specific training program was developed. The technologies were next tested in a trial. After 6 weeks, total sprint times of a training group were faster by 0.14 ± 0.1 seconds (P< 0.001) while their change of direction times were faster by 0.12 ± 0.03 seconds (P< 0.001). Meanwhile, a control group showed no significant change. Netball agility can be improved and measured.

Hawkes Bay:

Recipient of the Excellence in Promotion Award sponsored by the New Zealand South-Pacific District of Kiwanis International ($2,000)

Winner: Mitchell Lowe (12), Taradale Intermediate School, Hawkes Bay, “Shake, Shake – a study of dynamics”

This award is for promotion Mitchell carried out over the last three months about Realise the Dream and his science research project on how does the height of a building affect its stability in an earthquake. Are tall buildings necessarily the most likely to collapse in major earthquakes? To investigate these questions, Mitchell built a shaking table to simulate the effects of earthquakes using model buildings. His meticulous experiments and background research showed that many structural factors can prolong the ability of tall buildings to absorb the energy provided by lateral shaking.