26 October 2026
Three inspired projects created by public secondary school students are finalists for the WA Young Innovators award.
Chloe, Yojit and Emily (L-R) from Perth Modern School were nominated for their project.
The award recognises the creativity and entrepreneurial potential of the state’s next generation of innovators.
Natalie Coutinho and Logan Tolic, from Comet Bay College, were nominated for their Agni Renewables project, which recovers valuable resources from e-waste.
The pair are joined by four finalists from Perth Modern School.
Bhuvika Garg was recognised for her Byouk platform, which offers an accessible pathway into publishing, while Year 8 students Emily Truong, Yojit Dhilipkumar and Chloe Lim were nominated for their sustainable farming concept, Project Ecoframe.
Bhuvika created Byouk last year after recognising the roadblocks that young authors often encounter when attempting to publish their work.
“Traditional publishing is incredibly difficult to access, and self-publishing is either expensive or overwhelming,” she said.
“This is especially true for young writers and writers without financial or other resources.
“That leads to a diversity gap in books and media, where children grow up without seeing characters and heroes like them, often leaving them feeling like they don’t belong.”
Bhuvika said the Innovators Award had encouraged her to refine the Byouk platform to provide an affordable option for writers to publish their work.
“The Innovators Award made me look at the problem and research it more deeply,” she said.
“It pushed me to research publishing’s diversity gap and understand the scale of the issue beyond my own experience.
“Byouk makes publishing accessible and helps develop people’s stories.”
Emily, Yojit and Chloe said Project Ecoframe came about after they researched the impact of climate change on agriculture.
They said it made them think about how current technology systems could be combined, to help solve problems such as limited agricultural space, emissions caused by agriculture, and food security within Western Australia.
Project Ecoframe uses three AI-powered robots within a vertical farm, to make farming more efficient and sustainable and produce more food for the growing population.
The students had limited time to develop their project for the WA Young Innovators award but appreciated the advice they received from school staff.
“We had to create physical prototypes of our robots and farm, and write our script and presentation,” Emily said.
“We encountered modelling and 3D printing issues, but our digital technology teachers and peers supported us.”
Bhuvika Garg (Perth Modern School) was recognised for her Byouk publishing platform.
Helen Lydon, innovations program coordinator at Perth Modern School, was proud of the finalists.
She said the finalists’ projects highlighted the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in solving everyday problems and paid tribute to the school’s sustainability club.
“The students are hardworking and show wonderful imagination, curiosity and persistence,” Mrs Lydon said.
“They show a great deal of initiative and self-motivation and their entries into this competition came about at their own instigation.
“They are great representatives of the values we encourage and aspire to at Perth Modern School.
“The Year 8 students developed their idea starting from their involvement in our school sustainability club.
“They benefitted from discussions with one of the teachers running the club, Michael Dean, whose engineering background enabled him to help them with some technical questions.
“However, all the work was done by the students themselves.”
The winner of the WA Young Innovators award will be announced on Monday 2 November.
You can learn more about this year’s finalists for the WA Young Innovators award.