Sydney Technology High School has been crowned Australian Champion School at the University of Newcastle’s 2010 National Science and Engineering Grand Challenge.

Queensland school Forest Lake College was named runner-up and Adelaide school St Peter’s College placed third in the three-day event held at the Central Coast Youth Club.

Twenty-four schools progressed to the Grand Challenge after winning regional and zone competitions.

Participants were challenged with a number of tasks such as building a state-of-the-art eco home to withstand extreme weather due to global warming, developing a protocol to transmit messages using coloured light through an optical fibre and designing a cutting-edge water reticulation system to efficiently deliver water with minimum leakage.

University of Newcastle Head of School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Professor John O’Connor said it was inspiring to see the distribution of winners was nationwide.

“This shows the strength of the Challenge. The level of excitement and jubilation of the winners astounded everyone including Australian Chief Scientist Professor Penny Sackett," he said.

"This year's Challenge has been spectacular and has created a new benchmark for the organisers of the 2011 Grand Challenge in Wangaratta Victoria.”

For a full list of winners and scores visit: www.newcastle.edu.au/faculty/engineering/events/challenge/events-locations/grand-challenge.html