Water New Zealand Waikato Schools Challenge 2024
Imagining High Tech Water Cities
Imagine living in rewilded cities, where technology helps nature return. Where healthy streams and rivers run amongst solar powered skyscrapers and waste is recycled to help ecosystems. Imagine walking among giant kauri trees to get to school, ducking as robot kererū swoop past on their way to 3D print safe habitats for native birds – before real hollows are large enough for comfy bird homes. Imagine diving into a waterfall on your way home – swimming with native fish as water filtering submarines bubble past below. It’s time to think wild and enter our writing competition.
To celebrate the 2024 Water New Zealand Conference being held in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton in September, students from primary and secondary schools across the Waikato are invited to join our writing competition. The theme is water and cities of the future so creativity and wild thinking are the order of the day.
Awesome STEM prizes!
The best submissions in each category will win a copy of “Ultrawild”, a book of wild engineering concepts by futurist, industrial designer and visionary Steve Mushin. Runners up will win a school visit by the “Inspiring the Future” programme.
The best overall submission will and will be eligible to win the overall competition prize - an EPIC allday ULRAWILD Design Jam workshop of drawing and design at their school for 30 students with the amazing Steve Mushin! Mushin, futurist, industrial designer and visionary.
Three Easy Steps!
Students, or teachers on their behalf, must submit a piece of writing around the theme of water engineering in a future world, inspired by real world engineering. We’re looking for stories about future cities which are full of nature and who use wastewater to it’s full potential. Cities that collect rainwater, recycle wastewater from kitchens and bathrooms, Cities where sewage is recycled to feed plants. Cities where today’s giant underground pipes have been dug up, and streams and rivers have been restored as beautiful recreation spaces.
• 1: Watch the short introductory video where Steve Mushin talks about his book “Ultrawild” and introduces the competition (available on the Water New Zealand website www.waternz.org.nz)
• 2: Get inspired by checking out one of the suggested books on super cool future engineering.
• 3: Write a creative peice imagining cool wastewater engineering in a future New Zealand. Your story must referencing some cool real technology that you have learned in your research.
Did you know?
Steve’s book, “Ultrawild,” won the 2024 Australian Book Design Awards for Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Book and is nominated for the 2024 Storylines New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
Ultrawild Design Jam!
A “Design Jam” is a fun collaborative brainstorming activity or event, geared towards finding solutions in a creative environment. For the winning school, Steve will guide students on an extraordinary day of exploration, creativity, and forward-thinking. He will cover important topics such as:
• climate change
• design,
• engineering, and
• environmental stewardship.
Inspiring the future
Runners up get the chance to host an “Inspiring the Future” event. This awesome free programme is for students across Aotearoa New Zealand. It aims to challenge stereotypes and address unconscious biases that can limit young people’s potential. It does this by connecting schools with role models – people who are keen to share their career stories. Find out more on their website www.inspiringthefuture.org.nz.
Some ideas to get you going.
Getting started
Watch the short introductory video available on the Water New Zealand website. Steve Mushin talks about his book “Ultrawild” and introduces the competition. Download the teacher’s notes which provide lots of engineering exercises which teachers can use to help students think about future water engineering. They are also available on the website.
What you do from here is up to you - it’s your challenge and your class. Want to write a poem, create a short story or craft a play? Anything that imagines how we could change the world with wastewater. Go ahead, dream big, think wild and imagine something new. We’ve included some suggestions below but there are no real rules.
Read
Start the creative flow by reading others’ ideas about nature, future worlds or innovation/invention. Go ahead and use all those reading resources you are already familiar with or we have included some awesome books by New Zealand authors later in the document.
Think
The task is to come up with a future vision for wastewater. A new way of using it to fuel a vision of the future world we want so maybe take some time to think about what the world could look like. Brainstorm futuristic ideas about what you want our world to look like 50 or 100 years in the future.
Create
But I’ve already planned my term!
We know you have everything under control (and we don’t need to know if you’re winging it a bit)! So, this is chance to win some awesome prizes for doing what you are already doing.
All the students need to do is read a book (any book) and write something. It could be a school activity, it could be homework, it could be part of an after school club, it could be at the library.
No pressure, no real rules, just great creative thinking and a bit of fun. Join us in rethinking and rewilding the world!
Write a creative piece in any form (e.g., story, poem, diary entry) set in the future, imagining how wastewater is transformed into a valuable resource.
Improve
Did you know writer Lynley Dodd of Hairy McLary fame typically does 20-25 drafts of her books! You don’t need to go that far but if even the best writers spend time editing, so maybe so should we. Try and spend 20 minutes refining and editing your piece of work before submission.
Send your writing and information on what you read to mitch.marks@waternz.org.nz before 5pm on 4th Semtember 2024. Don’t forget your name, age and school so we know where to send your prizes.
General Guidelines
• Read a book, any book on innovation, the future, climate change, science, engineering will do.
• Write a piece in any form (story, poem, diary entry, essay, report, news article, script, etc.) that thinks about a new use for wastewater.
Use imaginative language and futuristic concepts.
Incorporate speculative ideas and innovative solutions.
Ensure the piece is structured and well-organised.
• Send your writing and information on what you read to mitch.marks@waternz.org.nz before 5pm on 4th Semtember 2024. Don’t forget your name, age and school so we know where to send your prizes.
1. Participation:
Students must be studying or attending school in the Waikato area to be eligible.
Students can work individually or in pairs.
Teachers are encouraged to build this competition into their existing teaching activities and may submit students work on their behalf.
2. Reading and Research Material:
Teachers working on this competition in class can absolutely use resources they are already familiar with or you can work with your librarian etc to source and provide age-appropriate, imaginative reading material focused on nature, the future or innovation/invention.
The texts you use are up to you, but some suggestions from New Zealand authors are:
• Ultrawild by Steve Mushin (ISBN 9781760292812) Ages 9-18
• Tree by Claire Saxby (ISBN 9781761069505) Ages 5-12
• Footprint by Phil Cummings (ISBN 9781761180323) Ages 5-10
• Hine and the Tohunga Portal by Ataria Sharman (ISBN 9781775506348) Ages 10-16
• The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown (ISBN 9781800784567) Ages 7-11
• The Apprentice Witnesser by Bren MacDibble (ISBN 9781761180781) Ages 9-13
• Kowhai and the Giants by Kate Parker (ISBN 9780473528904) Ages 4-10
• Henri and the Machine by Isabelle Marinov (ISBN 9781800786462) Ages 5-7
• Wild by Ele Fountain (ISBN 9781782693840) Ages 9-11
• The Edge of Light: New Dawning by A. M. Dixon (ISBN 9781990035197) Ages 12+
• Alex Through my Eyes by Roseanne Hawke (ISBN 9781760877002) Ages 11-14
• Orongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2023
• Climate Change (Inside Bubble Earth) by Des Hunt (published 2021, ISBN 9780995117686)
Use other resources as needed to explore and understand wastewater:
• https://www.smartwater.org.nz/
• https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/ (search wastewater)
• https://www.watercare.co.nz/residents/learn/storybooks-for-kids
3. Writing Guidelines:
Students, or teachers on their behalf, must submit a piece of writing around the theme of wastewater in a future world.
There is no maximum or minimum word lengthslengths, judging will be based on quality rather than quantity!
All entries must include the students names, age, school, contact details and the reading that was completed in support of the entry. No judgement will be made on what was read or how it may have been used but is merely to provide evidence of some background research.
4. Assessment Criteria:
• Creativity and originality of the piece.
• Engagement with futuristic concepts.
• Degree of innovative thinking.
• Quality of writing (grammar, structure, and coherence).
5. Competition Rules:
Age category prizes consist of three copies of the book “Ultrawild” by Steve Mushin, one per age category (5 - 8, 9 - 12 and 13 - 18).
Winners will be announced on the 11th of September 2024.
Final winners will be chosen by representatives chosen by Water New Zealand.
All entries must include the students names, age, school and the reading that was completed in support of the entry. No judgement will be made on what was read or how it may have been used but is merely to provide evidence of some background research.
Water New Zealand reserves the right to refrain from selecting a winner or winners for any reason, including but not limited to the insufficient quality of entries or low participation across the region.
Winners will be chosen based on creativity, originality, and future-focused thinking using the criteria outlined in section 5.
The fine print
5. Prize Details:
The final prize is a one-day session with Steve Mushin for 30 students to be held on the 23rd of September at the winners school. Students attending the workshop will be selected at the discretion of the school. Full details will be finalised with the winning school once the winner has been announced. Water New Zealand will cover the cost of Steve’s time, consumables and travel. All other expenses will be met by the school or Steve as agreed during the final confirmation process.
Schools of each of the category winners who do not win the design jam with Steve Mushin will be invited to participate in an “Inspiring the Future” careers event at their school. The organisation of this event will be facilitated by Water New Zealand and the Inspiring the Future team allowing students to meet workers in the water industry and understand more about what they do. This session will be held onsite at the age category winners’ school in the final week of term 3 (23-27 September 2024). Full details will be finalised with the winning school once the winner has been announced.
Water New Zealand reserves the right to use images of the winning school and pupils for promotional purposes. All relevant school policies will be followed. It is the responsibility of the school to ensure that Water New Zealand is aware of the relevant policies and procedures for the use of images.
