Mount Gambier, South Australia, teenage trio Lilli Fulwood, Elly Bachmann and Dale Bachmann received top honours at the GovHack Open Data Competition National Awards taking out the Best National Youth Team award at the red carpet event held in November.
The local GovHack Open Data Competition was held at the Mount Gambier Library in September.
During 46 hours of competition time, 45 youth and adults competed simultaneously with other teams across Australia.
Competitors were required to come up with a concept to make open data more accessible to the public, with ideas such as apps, games, websites and art.
The concepts were judged on a three minute video promoting the working model of each idea.
Local youth team ‘Bachmanns and Fulwoods’, comprised of Lilli Fulwood, Elly Bachmann and Dale Bachmann, created the project ‘Backwards and Forwards’, an interactive history board game based on South Australian figures.
The project was judged as the best youth entry in Australia.
Library Youth Services Coordinator, Terasa Nearmy, said, “This is an exceptional achievement and shows what the youth of Mount Gambier are capable of.
“The fact that their concept stems from a board game, and that they only had three team members, proves that anyone can take part in the GovHack Open Data Competition with the only limitation being their imagination.”
In addition to the national win, the teens also took out the local youth award and were runners up at State level in the category City of Adelaide – the place to live, work and play.
