Announcing the winners of our “Nourishing Minds” Competition

July 23, 2024

We are so pleased to announce the winners of our Nourishing Minds Competition for which school students entered a short video based on what they learned from The Crawford Fund “Development for a Better Future” materials and our student-centred learning materials.

In an era where food and nutrition security stand as paramount challenges for global well-being, fostering awareness of the issues and solutions involved among our youth is crucial. The “Nourishing Minds” competition followed three years of holding workshops and numerous webinars for teachers and teacher associations; addressing national and State teacher events and regular communications to showcase Australia’s only high school materials and resources that focus on global food security.

Our competition invited Year 9 and 10 students who were using our teaching modules to propose ideas and projects addressing the pressing food and nutrition security issues in them.

115 entries, with most involving 2-3 students, not only demonstrated the exceptional talent of young Australians but also offered a glimpse into a promising future for food and nutrition security.

With a drum roll – the winning school was Pymble Ladies’ College with their videos on:

First Place
Drip Irrigation and Vertical Farming in Vietnam by Annalise and Lucy


Second Place
Declining Seed Diversity in the Asia-Pacific Region by Katherine and Joanna


Third Place
Lack of Genetic Diversity of Bananas in PNG by Winnie, Clare and Katherine

“The number and quality of submissions certainly posed a significant challenge to the judging panel. Each project was evaluated based on the evident understanding of the issue being addressed, and the proposed innovation. We were thoroughly impressed by the depth of research and the solutions offered,” said Cathy Reade, Director of the Fund’s ACIAR-supported NextGen Project.“A very special thank you to the other competition judges who worked with me:  Heather MacDonald from Education Partnerships, and Kate Turner-Mann from ACIAR,” said Cathy.

“The quality of entries in the “Nourishing Minds” competition has been nothing short of extraordinary. Students have demonstrated remarkable ingenuity and a deep understanding of complex issues, presenting solutions that are both innovative and practical. From pioneering sustainable agriculture practices to inventive food waste reduction strategies, the calibre of work submitted by these young minds is a testament to their potential to drive meaningful change,” Heather said.

“There are some great ideas for improving food security and the students really should be proud of their efforts. I was very impressed with their ideas, articulation and demonstrated understanding of the topic,” said Kate after judging the videos.

Some quotes from the teachers who had students submit entries included:

“My students really enjoyed researching the modules and coming up with solutions.”

“Thank you for running such an interesting competition!”

“Thank you so much for putting it on and creating such a wonderful array of resources!”

“You are doing great things and my students have thoroughly enjoyed and been inspired throughout making these solution videos as part of their Term 2 assessment task.”

“They each chose their module to become an expert in with a partner. So student voice and passion hopefully come through to you and your team.”

“We had three classes do this activity and they all really enjoyed the activity and the topic.”

“Thank you for this wonderful opportunity, truly.”

The Crawford Fund’s five-year ACIAR-supported NextGen Project has been working to engage high school and university students to build their interest in study and careers in agriculture for development.

“The focus on resources for high school students was a first for the Crawford Fund and, to some extent, for Australia. A special thank you as the project winds up to our education and curriculum consultant Heather, who worked with us, ACIAR and international centres to develop our well-received teaching materials,” Cathy concluded.

While the project is concluding, the Crawford Fund will continue to make the materials available to interested teachers and students.