Previous winners - The University of Auckland

2015 results

The 2015 questions was “If a New Zealand student uploads a video clip that goes viral, how long will it take before 1% of the world’s population has seen it?”

The 2015 competition was held on Saturday 1st August from 9am to 6pm. See below for the winners and to download their answers to the question. Read the judges' report from the 2015 competition.

Overall winners: The $6,000 Pullan Prize for first place
Team 1153 from Wanganui High School (Year 13) Elia Nicolin, Amaan Merchant, Julian Schurhammer (Download the winning entry)
Runners up: $2,000 for each team
Team 1020 from ACG Parnell College (Mixed Year 12/13) Sheng Wang, Timo van Veenendaal, James Chung, Yu-Hao Liu (Download the winning entry) Team 1111 from Kristin School (Mixed year 12/13) Hyeongjin Kim, Yan Tian Zhang, Jack Liu, Marco Tyler-Rodrigue (Download the winning entry)
Highly commended
Team 1004 from St Peter’s School Cambridge (Mixed Year 12/13): Anthony Wilson, Scott Yearbury, Samuel Frengley, Fraser Rose Team 1059 from Wellington College (Mixed Year 12/13): Logan Wu, Callum Li, Jay Deshpande, Sebastian On Team 1011 from Westlake Boys' High School (Year 13): George Han, Ritchie Li, Tony Liu, Harry Deare Team 1088 from Saint Kentigern College (Mixed Year 12/13): Meheer Zaveri, Oscar Sims, Jed Robertson, Kevin Shen Team 1052 from Hamilton Boys' High School (Mixed Year 12/13): Christopher Mayo, David Lee, Jacob Cheatley, Stephen Burroughs Team 1143 from Selwyn College (Year 13): Stephen Bayley, Matthew Chen, Luka Cosic, Kiska Ababa Team 1058 from Auckland International College (Year 12): Ngoc Minh Thu Nguyen, Miles Lee, Bao Nguyen, Pham Ngoc Quyen Team 1144 from ACG Sunderland (Mixed Year 12/13): Mark Smith, Natasha Manuson, Anurag Nadgir, Tirth Thakar

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2014 results

The 2014 questions was "If Mount Taranaki erupted, how much would it cost the aviation industry?"

New Zealand is home to over 60 volcanoes and is located in the middle of the Australasian and pacific volcanic plates. At the same time, New Zealand has an estimated 2,700,000 tourist visitors annually. The potential for a volanic eruption at Mt Taranaki to disrupt and adversely affect the Aviation industry was analysed by our teams in 2014.

The competition was held on Saturday 2nd August from 9am to 6pm. Click here to view the judges' report.

Overall winners: The $6,000 Pullan Prize for first place
Team 1182 from Matamata College (Year 13) Renae White, Seamus Bardoul, Philip ten Houte de Lange, Kelly Petersen (Download the winning entry)
Runners up: $2,000 for each team
Team 1097 from Saint Kentigern College (Mixed year 11/12) Meheer Zaveri, Oscar Sims, Kevin Shen, Jed Robertson (Download the winning entry) Team 1148 from St Peter's School Cambridge (Mixed year 12/13) Lachlan Glass, Louis Kohn-Taylor, Fraser Rose, Hayden Fenn-Wells (Download the winning entry)
Highly commended
Team 1042 from Kristin School (Year 12): Sharn Fonseka, Grant Holtes, Amelia Vincent, Matthew Sinclair Team 1157 from Western Springs College (Year 13): Charles Jackson, Tanya Peart, Yue Zhang, Sacha Knight Team 1023 from Macleans College (Year 13): Samuel Attard, Jim Wang, Benjamin Yi, Jenny Chiang Team 1155 from Westlake Boys' High School (Year 13): Danial Valikhani, Matthew Bilton, Jeffrey Choy, Campbell Wang Team 1132 from Macleans College (Year 13): Yatharth Mitra, Harpreet Singh, Aditya Arora, Pulkit Kalra Team 1110 from Whangarei Boys' High School (Year 13): Brad Miller, Tim Gordon, Simon Wong, Shaan Hill

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2013 results

The 2013 question was "The aim of Project Loon is to ensure everyone on the planet has access to the internet, by creating a balloon-powered network. How many balloons would be required to provide balloon-powered internet coverage to all of New Zealand?” It was held on Saturday, 10 August from 9am to 6pm.

Overall winners: The $6,000 Pullan Prize for first place
Team 1152 from Westlake Boys High School (Year 13) Kevin Howe, Guy Hermanoche, Callum Lamont and Eugene Fong (Download the winning entry)
Runners up: $2,000 for each team
Team 1045 from Botany Downs Secondary College (Year 13) Tzu-Jui Lin, Daniel Cheah, William Teng and David Long (Download the winning entry) Team 1141 from Matamata College (Mixed) Timothy Gray, Liam Nelson, Kelly Petersen and Renae White (Download the winning entry)
Highly commended
Team 1014 from Rangitoto College (Mixed years): Fangzhou Jiang , Duo Ao Sun, Scott Huang and Jin Kyu Lim Team 1085 ACG Strathallan College (Mixed years): Navneet Singh, Sehwan Park, Eric Jou and Glenn JouTeam 1023 Hillcrest High School Team 1018 from Macleans College (Mixed years): Charisse Kuo, Samuel R Attard, Mu-ming Pan and Ian Seong Team 1096 Kristin School (Year 13): Jason Cheng and Lingshu Liu Team 1035 St Peter’s School (Year 13): Karl Alexander Peez, Hayden Thomas Moore and Daniel Ross Barker Team 1114 Burnside High School (Year 13): Lilian Felicity Anne Clark, Eva Lok, Ashley Farquahrson and Michaela Dobson Team 1075 Otumoetai College (Year 13): Cameron Bryce Apeldoorn, Seumas Mackinnon Beeedie, Lucas James de Rijk and Conrad Jeffery Dale Team 1188 Bayfield High School (Year 13): Shaun Tocher, Indy Griffiths, Greg Underwood and Robert Polak

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2012 results

Left to Right: Joe Lu, Samuel Gilmour, James Gardner, John Theakston

The 2012 competition was held on Saturday 22 September, with students working from 9am through to 6pm.

The problem centred on Felix Baumgartner's planned record breaking high altitude skydive attempt, which he successfully completed on 14 October (2012). Felix jumped from a height of 39km, launching himself from a capsule suspended beneath a balloon, at the edge of space. After Felix landed, a remote triggering system released the capsule from the balloon. The question asked on competition day was "In the event that electronic tracking is unavailable, what size search area is required in order to retrieve the capsule? "

143 teams took part with entries from 69 schools all over New Zealand.

Judging was completely anonymous.

Overall winners: The $6,000 Pullan Prize for first place
Team 3082 from Saint Kentigern College (Year 13) Samuel Gilmour, John Theakston, Joe Lu and James Gardner (Download the winning entry)
Runners up: $2,000 for each team
Team 2005 from Botany Downs Secondary College (Year 13) Jenny Nguyen, Antara Nahian, Carla Sy and Clariss Wong (Download their entry) Team 3009 from Lynfield College (Year 12) Tim Hight, Jack Barker, Nick Waddington and Akash Charles (Download their entry)
Highly commended
Team 2018 fromMount Albert Grammar School (Year 13): Matthew Battley, Taliesin Budvietas and Max Ashmore Team 3024 from Green Bay High School (Mixed): Joses Bell, Grace Kapma, Jacob Neville-Smith and Jordan Wong Team 3038 from King's College (Year 13): Richard Ngo, Jamie Beaton, Robert Wang and Cameron Kendall Team 3046 from Matamata College (Mixed): Chris Earl, Kieran Hines, Thomas Schweizer and Timothy Gray Team 3083 from ACG Senior College (Year 13): Hyunjin Ahn, Gabriel Thompson de Wit and Marcel Soanes Team 3061 from Dilworth School (Year 13): Rommel Layco, Zac Johns, Bowen Shi and Adam Sowerby-Parlane
Special mention
Team 3074 from Tauranga Boys' College (Year 13): Matthew Robert Knox, Craig Balfour, Isaac Gilmour and Daniel Robertson *For the software they wrote to answer the question, which included a very nice graphical user interface.*

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2011 results

The 2011 winning team from Garin College Left to right: Associate Professor Rosalind Archer, Benedict Morrissey, Matthew Ruffell and Michael Shanaher (photo courtesy of Garin)

The 2011 competition was held on Saturday 1st October, with students working from 8am through to 5pm. The competition question was "If a severe Tsunami warning was issued, how long would it take to evacuate the 13,000 people who live on Te Atatu Peninsula?"

117 teams took part with entries from 65 schools all over New Zealand.

Judging was completely anonymous. Download the Judge's Report for details on how the event was judged and individual feedback for each team.

Overall winners: The $6,000 Pullan Prize for first place
Team 1014 from Garin College, Nelson (Year 13) Benedict Morrissey, Matthew Ruffell and Michael Shanaher (Download the winning entry)
Runners up: $2,000 for each team
Team 1034 from St. Cuthbert's College, Auckland (Year 13) Elynna Yang, Harim Lee, Jimin Kang and Vicky Tai (Download their entry) Team 1075 from Kings College, Auckland (Mixed) Ashish Pandey, Jamie Beaton, Richard Ngo, and Harry Gower (Download their entry)
Highly commended
Team 1001 from St. Peter's College, Auckland (Year 12): Nicholas Twort, Angus Craig, Thomas Taylor and Michael Fitzpatrick Team 1055 from Lincoln High School, Lincoln (Mixed): Hadleigh Frost, Daniel Morris, Marcus Stenfert Kroese and Matthew Young Team 1037 from Botany Downs Secondary College, Auckland (Year 13): Tzu-Han Lin, Chinmay Pandit, Mirendra Aruldasan and Bryan Ma Team 1117 from ACG Sunderland College, Auckland (Mixed): Albert Lei, Christopher Petty, Frano Ivan Stanisic and Miso (Hannah) Kang Team 1054 from St. Kentigern College, Auckland (Year 13): Frazer French, Conor McCowan, Andrew Hughes and Matt Ansell

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2010 results

The 2010 winning team from Westlake Boys High School. From left to right: Danny Kwok, Jeffrey Mei, Benjamin Tan, Yuanye Xu.

The 2010 competition was held on Saturday 10th September, with students working from 8am through to 5pm. The competition question was "How much fuel is required for a manned mission to Mars?"

405 contestants took part, with 108 teams from 58 schools all over New Zealand.

Judging was completely anonymous. Download the Judge's Report for details on how the event was judged and individual feedback for each team.

Overall winners: The $6,000 Pullan Prize for first place
Team 1004 from Westlake Boys' High School Danny Kwok, Jeffrey Mei, Benjamin Tan, Yuanye Xu (Download the winning entry)
Runners up: $2,000 for each team
Team 1015 from Hawera High School Dillon Manuirirangi, Bailee Riddick, Stephen Greig, Shernal Prasad (Download their entry) Team 1084 from Birkenhead College Owen Dillon, Tsun Hei Tai, Alex Shegay, Ngaio Garcia (Download their entry)
Highly commended
Team 1039 from Trident High School: Haylie Griffen, Shane Van Bergen, Toni Attwood, Wieland Kuhn Team 1069 from St. Peter's School: Lance Henderson, Sandra Mitchell, Richard White, Dijon Hoogeveen Team 1045 from St. Cuthbert's College: Harim Lee, Jimin Kang, Vicky Tai, Elynna Yang Team 1095 from Nelson College: Timothy Leaper, Rodney Martin, Reuben Olorenshaw, Mack Delaney Team 1053 from Westlake Boys' High School: Jakov Biondic, Mohammad Sarrafzadeh, Callum Welch Team 1108 from Christ's College: Alexander Donaldson, Alex Kendall, David Bellamy, Campbell Taylor Team 1054 from Whangarei Boys' High School: Felix Saparelli, Matthew Pearce, Tobias Barker, Zak Holdaway

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2009 results

The 2009 competition was held on Saturday 19th September, with students working from 8am through to 5pm. The competition question was "Could New Zealanders save enough electricity via energy efficiency improvements in homes to avoid New Zealand requiring an additional power station being constructed?"

63 contestants took part, with 108 teams from 98 teams entered from schools all over New Zealand.