MOUNT Gambier has again been recognised in the GovHack Open Data State Awards with several South East participants attending the presentations in Adelaide.
The competition, which took place in July at the Mount Gambier Library, saw 62 youth and adults compete simultaneously with other teams from across Australia and New Zealand.
During the 46 hours of competition time, competitors were required to come up with a concept to make open data more accessibly to the public, including games, apps, websites and art.
Their concepts were judged on a three minute video which promoted the working model of their idea, competing against the whole of South Australia, with Mount Gambier competitors taking out numerous awards.
Team Fiction, comprised of team members Jessica Tucker, Brendan Bachmann, Tim Bolch, Talie Teakle, and Jessica Patou, created an app called Explor’d.
The concept was an interactive audio tour guide with engaging facts and stories available at the tap of a finger whilst visiting South Australian historical and natural sites.
They were awarded a $1000 cash prize in the “storytelling with a difference” category and a $500 cash second prize for the Supporting SA Economy Award.
Team DMH, comprising high school students Dane Heemskerk, Braydon Eberhard, Braydon Rantall and Hayden Pawelski, was awarded a $500 second prize in the category Best Youth Program Award for their concept – a friendly app called cropall which used weather, map, water and soil quality data sets to help people grow the best fruit and vegetable crops.
Mr Eberhard – who is a student at Grant High School – also received the Spirit of GovHack Award at the Mount Gambier local competition.
In Adelaide, he was awarded the South Australian Spirit of GovHack Award and will represent Mount Gambier at the national awards tomorrow in Brisbane, with flights and accommodation part of his prize.
Two more Mount Gambier teams have also been short-listed as finalists in the national awards – Dylan McCarthy, team captain of 56K, and Sylvia Zuiderduin, team captain of KnowEyeDeer, and will be attending the red carpet awards to represent the region tomorrow.
“It was a great experience and such an honour to have these young people represent Mount Gambier at the awards and we are so proud of all their acheivements,” library youth services coordinator Terasa Nearmy said.
“Braydon Eberhard has expressed that he has gained more confidence out of competing at local level and is excited to now be flown to Brisbane for the national awards.”
