Timaru Boys win top prize for astronomy DVD

Monday, 25 May 2009, 1:09 pm
Press Release: The Royal Society of New Zealand

This is a very compressed version of the winning dvd (5.48MB). Press the start button to begin viewing (it starts black). Please be patient.

The major prize in the Freemasons BIG Science Adventures DVD competition has gone to a team of three Year 12 boys, Ryan Ammar, Matthew Keelty and Adam Simpson and their teacher, Tony Bunting, from Timaru Boys High School. Their film on the theme of how astronomy has revolutionised our thinking about the world has won them a trip to Europe in July.

Freemasons BIG Science Adventures is an exciting and challenging DVD competition run by the Royal Society of New Zealand each year which offers major prizes for secondary school students. This year’s competition was themed around astronomy, looking at how our view of ourselves and our world has changed in the light of astronomical discoveries. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and is 400 years since Galileo made a telescope which magnified objects twenty times, providing an astonishing new view of the moon and planets.

The film produced by the Timaru team, The Burning Question, addresses the recent discovery of planets beyond our solar system and the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. Starting with a dramatic depiction of the burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno, the film explores the important discoveries since then and concludes that the ultimate question is really the search for who we are.

The trip to Europe will take the boys through London, Venice, Florence and Rome, visiting the Vatican Observatory, Galileo’s Observatory, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Venice Biennale.

Professor Lloyd Davis, of the University of Otago and chair of the independent judging panel, commented on the winning film: “This was the complete package – it had a great storyline, excellent cinematography, a superb narrator and script and an engaging style.”

Dr Di McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Stan Barker, Grand Master of Freemasons New Zealand travelled to Timaru today to tell the news to the team in front of the whole school at their Monday assembly. Di McCarthy said: “We were delighted with the number and quality of this years’ film entries. New Zealand has a wonderful future resource in its talented and inspiring school students.”

In addition to the trip to Italy, two special prizes will be awarded to two shortlisted teams, to join one of the Royal New Zealand Navy ships, sailing from Auckland to Gisborne to join in the Cook’s Landing Commemoration celebrations in October. These prizes will be announced in June.

Further details of the competition is available at www.royalsociety.org.nz and all the shortlisted videos (higher quality) can be viewed at www.hotscience.co.nz 

The other finalist teams were: Hauraki Plains College, Ngatea, Otumoetai College, Tauranga, Rotorua Boys High School, Rotorua, Tawa College, Wellington, Nelson College for Girls, Nelson, Burnside High School, Christchurch, St Bedes, Christchurch