Results for Science Fair 2025
Congratulations to all the winners and huge thanks to everyone that entered. The standard of projects this year was outstanding!
Please note that the prize value indicated may not necessarily be awarded to a single exhibit nor the full value awarded. Special Prizes may be sub-divided at the Judge’s discretion, and be awarded to a number of exhibits.
2025 Programme Booklet
2025 Awards Ceremony Photos
2025 Winners
| Prize | Class | Student names | Project title | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth Sciences NZ Prize for best overall exhibit | 3 - 47 | Gabriel Anthony | Meds Made Clear: An AI-based multilingual app to help Kiwis understand and take their medications safely. | Whitby Collegiate |
| Royal Society of NZ Wellington Branch Prize for the runner-up best overall exhibit | 5 - 22 | Ishaan Badiyani, Siddhesh Kalyanasundaram | Wave Safe: Life-Saving Drone | Whitby Collegiate |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Te Wāhanga a Manaia—Faculty of Science and Engineering Innovation Prize | 5 - 14 | Jesse Rumball-Smith | Baa-rilliant Climate Solution: Passive CO2 Capture with New Zealand Wool | Wellington College |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Te Wāhanga a Manaia—Faculty of Science and Engineering Prize | 3 - 47 | Gabriel Anthony | Meds Made Clear: An AI-based multilingual app to help Kiwis understand and take their medications safely. | Whitby Collegiate |
| First in Class 5 | 5 - 22 | Ishaan Badiyani, Siddhesh Kalyanasundaram | Wave Safe: Life-Saving Drone | Whitby Collegiate |
| Second in Class 5 | 5 - 14 | Jesse Rumball-Smith | Baa-rilliant Climate Solution: Passive CO2 Capture with New Zealand Wool | Wellington College |
| Third = in Class 5 | 5 - 20 | Matthew Isbister | Slinky walk | Wellington High School |
| Third = in Class 5 | 5 - 24 | Jussa Aschenberger | Climbing magnets | Wellington High School |
| First in Class 4 | 4 - 5 | Muhammad Zayan Abbasi | Pipe Patrol - The robotic saviour below | Onslow College |
| Second in Class 4 | 4 - 22 | Reese Lingad | Smartrap | Upper Hutt College |
| Third = in Class 4 | 4 - 16 | David de Bruin and Lucas Ng | Engineering Solutions to Coastal Erosion in NZ | St Patricks College Kilbirnie |
| Third = in Class 4 | 4 - 24 | Jonah Liu | Hijacked Attention: Reclaiming Teen Focus with Smart Screen AI | Wellington College |
| First in Class 3 | 3 - 47 | Gabriel Anthony | Meds Made Clear: An AI-based multilingual app to help Kiwis understand and take their medications safely. | Whitby Collegiate |
| Second in Class 3 | 3 - 14 | Anna Hayward, Victoria Leo | AI can do Maths… but can it do Morals? | Samuel Marsden Collegiate School |
| Third in Class 3 | 3 - 4 | Kaavya Badiyani, Aanya Badiyani | Fresh Impression: A smarter, sustainable and accessible way to store fruit and veggies | Newlands College |
| Fourth in Class 3 | 3 - 30 | Olivia Rawdon, Katherine Clover, Ruby Wei-Solt | The Great Eco-Chute Showdown | St Orans College |
| First in Class 2 | 2 - 26 | Anaton Rottpeter | PET to Perfect | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Second in Class 2 | 2 - 163 | Peter Cottingham | Blowing Power to the Limits | Wadestown School |
| Third in Class 2 | 2 - 37 | Willa Ford | Salt in the air is a danger down there | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Fourth in Class 2 | 2 - 73 | Purav Joshi | Waves Worth Keeping: Powering the future | Newlands Intermediate |
| First in Class 1 | 1 - 45 | Marni Orange | Conscious vs Clueless | Northland School |
| Second in Class 1 | 1 - 82 | Shivakhya Singh | Windy Wellington Wind Turbines | Newlands Intermediate |
| Third in Class 1 | 1 - 23 | Harvey McLeod, Akeel Mohammed Yonus | Glider Innovations - Bird Biomechanics | Hutt Intermediate School |
| Fourth in Class 1 | 1 - 76 | Japjot Kaur | Don't Burst My Hydrogen Bonds | Wadestown School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 26 | Anaton Rottpeter | PET to Perfect | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Engineering New Zealand | 1 - 82 | Shivakhya Singh | Windy Wellington Wind Turbines | Newlands Intermediate |
| Engineering New Zealand | 3 - 37 | Marlon Diesch-Priest, Susan Legner | Pneumatic Engine | Upper Hutt College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 5 - 2 | Alexander Pop, Charlie Gibson-Scarlett | Shut The Front Door! | Scots College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 4 - 5 | Muhammad Zayan Abbasi | Pipe Patrol - The robotic saviour below | Onslow College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 1 - 80 | Lawrence Wang, Junyi Zhang, Anton Venter | SolarGrow SmartFeeder | Whitby Collegiate |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 128 | Poppy Edwards, Chloe Smith, Jessica MacGibbons | Energy Sources | South Wellington Intermediate School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 3 - 3 | Beckett Wass, Aaron Jimenez | Trainscending Excellence - The MagLev Way Forward | Home School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 3 - 6 | Blade.B, Jackson.C and Hunter.R | Paddle Power | Rongotai College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 5 - 17 | Abby Dixon, Sophie Moore | Acoustic Levitation | Wellington East Girls' College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 159 | Kate Burt | Is Black Really Cool? | Wadestown School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 163 | Peter Cottingham | Blowing Power to the Limits | Wadestown School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 4 - 16 | David de Bruin and Lucas Ng | Engineering Solutions to Coastal Erosion in NZ | St Patricks College Kilbirnie |
| Engineering New Zealand | 1 - 43 | Holly Lucas | The Sole Reason | Northland School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 1 - 52 | Robert Hunt, Riaan Joshi, Monty Webb | Botanic Water Filtration | Scots College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 134 | Jillian Jimeno | Erosion in Motion | St Benedicts |
| Engineering New Zealand | 3 - 13 | Akithma Kariyawasam, Georgia Parker | Solar Splash | Samuel Marsden Collegiate School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 3 - 24 | Haoyuan Gu, Neel Jaishankar, Nathan Hu | Nature's Current | Scots College |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 111 | Nathan Matcham | Wind & Weight | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 137 | Avi Singh | No Freeze, No Breeze | St Mark's School |
| Engineering New Zealand | 2 - 79 | Isobel Clendon & Phoebe Carnegie | Structure vs Shake | Northland School |
| Hugh D Gordon Memorial Prize | 2 - 8 | Keemaya Kumar | Kawakawa vs. Bacteria: The Ultimate Showdown. | Chilton Saint James |
| Hugh D Gordon Memorial Prize | 2 - 37 | Willa Ford | Salt in the air is a danger down there | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Peter Jennings Memorial Prize | 1 - 14 | Tui Blanch, Marcia Blackwell, Lexi Adam | Are The Seas Turning Sour? | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Peter Jennings Memorial Prize | 1 - 63 | Esther Woollaston | Rot Or Not? | St Benedicts |
| Doreen Gates Memorial Prize | 2 - 83 | Reuben Small | Can it take the heat? | Northland School |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Education | 5 - 22 | Ishaan Badiyani, Siddhesh Kalyanasundaram | Wave Safe: Life-Saving Drone | Whitby Collegiate |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Education | 3 - 17 | Greta Keenan, Matilda Schaefer | Say no to smoke, Choose the oil that won't choke | Samuel Marsden Collegiate School |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Education | 2 - 35 | Miro van Dam | The Lost Art of Milk Bioplastic | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Cancer Society (Wellington Division) | 1 - 39 | Charlotte Miller | Water you know bout sunscreen? | Northland School |
| Cancer Society (Wellington Division) | 2 - 121 | Joe Winder and Jasper Blom | Go Go Cardio | Seatoun School |
| Cancer Society (Wellington Division) | 3 - 46 | Wafaa Hilal, Ida Hipp | Sensational Sunscreen! | Wellington East Girls' College |
| Cancer Society (Wellington Division) | 5 - 4 | Annalise Findley | The Tooth about Vaping! | St Orans College |
| Geosciences Society of New Zealand | 2 - 108 | Inaaya Arsalan | Shake No More - The Air Quake Defence System | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| Geosciences Society of New Zealand | 2 - 81 | Olivia Quinn | Get a slip on it! | Northland School |
| Measurement Standards Laboratory | 2 - 159 | Kate Burt | Is Black Really Cool? | Wadestown School |
| Measurement Standards Laboratory | 3 - 9 | Ed Werry | Best Grip | Rongotai College |
| Measurement Standards Laboratory | 2 - 73 | Purav Joshi | Waves Worth Keeping: Powering the future | Newlands Intermediate |
| NZ Association of Optometrists - Wellington Branch | 1 - 40 | Claire Slack | Lighting up the answers | Northland School |
| NZ Association of Optometrists - Wellington Branch | 1 - 79 | Lily-Mae McLellan | On the Edge of a Rainbow | Wadestown School |
| NZ Association of Optometrists - Wellington Branch | 2 - 132 | Ezra Leilua | The Optic Void | St Benedicts |
| New Zealand Institute of Chemistry | 1 - 8 | Sarah-Jane Chaplin and Eleanor Wilkie | Boba-Spherification | Chilton Saint James |
| New Zealand Institute of Chemistry | 5 - 14 | Jesse Rumball-Smith | Baa-rilliant Climate Solution: Passive CO2 Capture with New Zealand Wool | Wellington College |
| The School of Mathematics and Statistics at Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington | 2 - 158 | Ishan Hota | Measured by Motion | Wadestown School |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School of Engineering and Computer Science | 4 - 22 | Reese Lingad | Smartrap | Upper Hutt College |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School of Engineering and Computer Science | 1 - 74 | Andrew Thurston | Facts vs Forecast | Wadestown School |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School of Engineering and Computer Science | 3 - 40 | Dylan Rama | Waste Wise - A Garbage Tracking App | Wellington College |
| Wellington Medical Research Foundation | 2 - 7 | Gurleen Kaur | Battle of the brands. Which oral product cleans teeth best, and is it safe for enamel? | Chilton Saint James |
| Wellington Medical Research Foundation | 2 - 91 | Emma Smart-Baldwin | Year level vs backpack weight | Queen Margaret College |
| Antarctic Society, Wellington Branch | 1 - 19 | Mahe Boswell, Hunter Lauchlan | Sink or Swim | Hataitai School |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 5 - 1 | Sarah Arsalan | The influence of different concentrations on the antibacterial properties of turmeric (Curcuma longa) against Micrococcus luteus compared to Escherichia coli bacteria. | Queen Margaret College |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 5 - 4 | Annalise Findley | The Tooth about Vaping! | St Orans College |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 3 - 47 | Gabriel Anthony | Meds Made Clear: An AI-based multilingual app to help Kiwis understand and take their medications safely. | Whitby Collegiate |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 1 - 62 | Emma Marks | Caffeine Kickoff | St Benedicts |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 1 - 72 | Te Koha Fox, Sana Ounei-Nuh | AI Crime Paradox: Weapon or Shield? | Thorndon Primary School |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 2 - 5 | Aarzoo Pathania | What is the most common fingerprint? | Chilton Saint James |
| Public Health and Forensic Science | 2 - 61 | Frederica Amati | Poisonous colours | Muritai School |
| Wellington City Libraries | 4 - 13 | Harshika Sharma | Tolkien to Plants | St Mary's College Wellington |
| NZ Institute of Food Science and Technology | 2 - 109 | James Wear | Keep It Fresh! | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| NZ Institute of Food Science and Technology | 2 - 35 | Miro van Dam | The Lost Art of Milk Bioplastic | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| NZ Institute of Food Science and Technology | 3 - 4 | Kaavya Badiyani, Aanya Badiyani | Fresh Impression: A smarter, sustainable and accessible way to store fruit and veggies | Newlands College |
| Australasian Corrosion Association | 4 - 23 | Jacob Allison | Stable Storage: Prevention of Corrosion in Unstable Environments | Wellington College |
| Wellington Botanical Society | 3 - 10 | Edgar Watson | GOOP | Rongotai College |
| Wellington Botanical Society | 2 - 37 | Willa Ford | Salt in the air is a danger down there | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| NumberWorks'nWords | 3 - 38 | Max Margrain, Jamie McCarthy | Kepler's Unsolvable Equation | Upper Hutt College |
| NumberWorks'nWords | 5 - 15 | Karthik Manikandan Sethuramalingam, Gavin Wang | PenSync: Turning Handwriting into Digital Text | Wellington College |
| NZ Farm Forestry Association Wellington Branch | 3 - 33 | Nico Swart | How Weather Patterns affect the Growth of Radiata Pine and the Spread of Red Needle Cast | St Patricks College Kilbirnie |
| NZ Baking Industry Research Trust Award | 2 - 145 | Luca Prior, Amy Korte | In it for the long crumb | St Orans College |
| Royal Aeronautical Society Bernard Weinstein Aerospace Prize | 2 - 157 | Hugo Jones | Spinergy - Hunt for the Ultimate Blade | Wadestown School |
| Royal Aeronautical Society Bernard Weinstein Aerospace Prize | 2 - 163 | Peter Cottingham | Blowing Power to the Limits | Wadestown School |
| Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington Te Kawa a Māui | 2 - 162 | Oliver Kawharu-Wells | Māori Medicine | Wadestown School |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School of Psychological Sciences | 1 - 33 | Tessa Hayward | The Great Cupcake Confusion | Muritai School |
| Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington School of Psychological Sciences | 2 - 63 | Isla Warnes-A'Court | How Does Our Subconscious Affect Our Decision Making Through Priming? | Muritai School |
| New Zealand Coastal Society | 4 - 16 | David de Bruin and Lucas Ng | Engineering Solutions to Coastal Erosion in NZ | St Patricks College Kilbirnie |
| New Zealand Coastal Society | 2 - 73 | Purav Joshi | Waves Worth Keeping: Powering the future | Newlands Intermediate |
| The Joint Centre for Disaster Research | 2 - 108 | Inaaya Arsalan | Shake No More - The Air Quake Defence System | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| The Joint Centre for Disaster Research | 4 - 16 | David de Bruin and Lucas Ng | Engineering Solutions to Coastal Erosion in NZ | St Patricks College Kilbirnie |
| Stantec New Zealand | 1 - 52 | Robert Hunt, Riaan Joshi, Monty Webb | Botanic Water Filtration | Scots College |
| Stantec New Zealand | 2 - 160 | Matthew Jones | Beneath the Canopy | Wadestown School |
| Stantec New Zealand | 2 - 164 | Toby Luscombe | Dirty Dairying - Fact or Fiction | Wadestown School |
| Stantec New Zealand | 3 - 34 | Kaia McDermott | Filtration Effective? | Tawa College |
| Robinson Bowmaker Paul | 3 - 24 | Haoyuan Gu, Neel Jaishankar, Nathan Hu | Nature's Current | Scots College |
| Robinson Bowmaker Paul | 5 - 2 | Alexander Pop, Charlie Gibson-Scarlett | Shut The Front Door! | Scots College |
| Robinson Bowmaker Paul | 2 - 73 | Purav Joshi | Waves Worth Keeping: Powering the future | Newlands Intermediate |
| Statistical Association | 5 - 1 | Sarah Arsalan | The influence of different concentrations on the antibacterial properties of turmeric (Curcuma longa) against Micrococcus luteus compared to Escherichia coli bacteria. | Queen Margaret College |
| sciPAD | 5 - 2 | Alexander Pop, Charlie Gibson-Scarlett | Shut The Front Door! | Scots College |
| sciPAD | 3 - 4 | Kaavya Badiyani, Aanya Badiyani | Fresh Impression: A smarter, sustainable and accessible way to store fruit and veggies | Newlands College |
| sciPAD | 5 - 22 | Ishaan Badiyani, Siddhesh Kalyanasundaram | Wave Safe: Life-Saving Drone | Whitby Collegiate |
| ikeGPS | 4 - 5 | Muhammad Zayan Abbasi | Pipe Patrol - The robotic saviour below | Onslow College |
| Responsibilty in Science | 2 - 26 | Anaton Rottpeter | PET to Perfect | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Te Kauru-Ferrier Research Institute Life Science's Summit | 5 - 1 | Sarah Arsalan | The influence of different concentrations on the antibacterial properties of turmeric (Curcuma longa) against Micrococcus luteus compared to Escherichia coli bacteria. | Queen Margaret College |
| Te Kauru-Ferrier Research Institute Life Science's Summit | 5 - 14 | Jesse Rumball-Smith | Baa-rilliant Climate Solution: Passive CO2 Capture with New Zealand Wool | Wellington College |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 20 | Sylvie Rea | Think Before You Drink | Hataitai School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 32 | Otto Schollum | Small Berms Big Impact | Muritai School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 47 | Beth Jordan | Pawfect Pets | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 58 | Ari Ray-Podmore | How many parents care about Science? | South Wellington Intermediate School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 67 | George Chou | The Swinging Science Sensations | St Mark's School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 104 | Charlotte Kirkwood | Flash or Cash | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 118 | Mike Zhang | Food Waste Management - Reducing Waste, Protecting Earth | Scots College |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 139 | Luca Willis | Slip Sliding Away | St Mark's School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 148 | Rose Connon, Emma Gatland | Weather + Water Quality | St Orans College |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 149 | Zara Griffith | The Fast and the Furthest | St Orans College |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 151 | Niranjana Sethuramalingam, Meher Singh | The Hairy Fairy | Thorndon Primary School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 30 | Gabrielle Warren | Natures Shield - Finding Aotearoa's best Rongoa Bug repellent | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 36 | Nikita Mackay | The Secret Life of Cats | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 55 | Ryder Twomey | Trebuchet Trials | Korokoro School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 6 | Crystal Lim | Which Food Waste Makes The Best Bioplastic? | Chilton Saint James |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 67 | Theo Longson | Reactions | Muritai School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 76 | Cerys Raybould | What did you say? I can't hear you | Northland School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 86 | Tyler Roux | Define me if you can | Northland School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 97 | Olivia Miller | Seedling growth vs cleaning product | Queen Margaret College |
| Highly Commended | 3 - 41 | Thomas Taylor | Best Base for your Beats | Wellington College |
| Highly Commended | 4 - 15 | Daniel Hale and Zach Magtoto | Universal Remote | St Patricks College Kilbirnie |
| Highly Commended | 4 - 2 | Melody Jordan | Sudoku Psychology: Operant Conditioning and Reinforcement Theory | Chilton Saint James |
| Highly Commended | 4 - 20 | Jothika Arun, Layla Cocklin | Bioplastics | Upper Hutt College |
| Highly Commended | 5 - 11 | Conor Sharkey | Tracing Pollution to Potential | St Patrick's College, Silverstream |
| Highly Commended | 5 - 21 | Ollie Butcher | Water Bottle Rocket | Wellington High School |
| Highly Commended | 5 - 3 | Daniel Qi, Andrew Shin | The Grime Reapers | Scots College |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 111 | Nathan Matcham | Wind & Weight | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 137 | Avi Singh | No Freeze, No Breeze | St Mark's School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 63 | Esther Woollaston | Rot Or Not? | St Benedicts |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 74 | Andrew Thurston | Facts vs Forecast | Wadestown School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 121 | Joe Winder and Jasper Blom | Go Go Cardio | Seatoun School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 164 | Toby Luscombe | Dirty Dairying - Fact or Fiction | Wadestown School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 8 | Keemaya Kumar | Kawakawa vs. Bacteria: The Ultimate Showdown. | Chilton Saint James |
| Highly Commended | 3 - 13 | Akithma Kariyawasam, Georgia Parker | Solar Splash | Samuel Marsden Collegiate School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 33 | Tessa Hayward | The Great Cupcake Confusion | Muritai School |
| Highly Commended | 1 - 80 | Lawrence Wang, Junyi Zhang, Anton Venter | SolarGrow SmartFeeder | Whitby Collegiate |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 128 | Poppy Edwards, Chloe Smith, Jessica MacGibbons | Energy Sources | South Wellington Intermediate School |
| Highly Commended | 5 - 17 | Abby Dixon, Sophie Moore | Acoustic Levitation | Wellington East Girls' College |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 109 | James Wear | Keep It Fresh! | Raroa Normal Intermediate School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 158 | Ishan Hota | Measured by Motion | Wadestown School |
| Highly Commended | 2 - 35 | Miro van Dam | The Lost Art of Milk Bioplastic | Evans Bay Intermediate |
| Highly Commended | 5 - 1 | Sarah Arsalan | The influence of different concentrations on the antibacterial properties of turmeric (Curcuma longa) against Micrococcus luteus compared to Escherichia coli bacteria. | Queen Margaret College |
Thank you all for participating in the NIWA Wellington Regional Science & Technology Fair. See you all back next year!
Protection of Copyright, Intellectual Property and Design
Please note that the student’s intellectual property within entries to this fair has been protected by gazetting this exhibition under Section 9(2) of the Patents Act 2013 and Section 10(2) of the Designs Act 1953 by The Commissioner of Patents. https://www.iponz.govt.nz/about-iponz/the-journal/