2007-08-28 The Great Engineering Challenge event was held on Tuesday the 21st of August 2007. Optional site tours in the afternoon provided a glimpse into the world of engineering which complemented the activities held at the event. Teams who had prepared for the pre-event challenge were able to test their moveable safety barriers on the Challenge 0 rig at the start of the day. Following the official introduction, schools started on Challenge 1, where the goal was to load a vehicles and construct the load restraint mechanisms. The goal of transporting as much of the load as possible in the shortest amount of time reflected real life problems faced by professional engineers. Following morning tea, and the opportunity to hear from the keynote speaker about the role the RTA plays in road safety, challenge 2 commenced. Students were asked to analyse data from a specific site to perform a road environment safety type investigation. Students used the data to recommend possible treatment options for the site, taking into consideration social, environmental and technical constraints.

After the concluding speakers, prizes were presented to the highest performing teams. The winners of the 2007 event were Colyton High School Trade School, so congratulations to them. Runners up were the team from North Sydney Boys High School. An expert panel of judges from industry and academia deemed that the Innovation prize was to be awarded to St George Girls High School and the Teamwork prize to Roseville College. Congratulations to all the winners on the day!

2007-07-09 The Great Engineering Challenge presented its paper entitled “Engineering students for the 21st century – Pathways of engagement” at ConnectED07. ConnectED07 is an international conference on design education. As ‘design’ is now being seen in terms of ‘multidisciplinary’ the trend has been towards finding commonalities between the various design fields and exploring these. The Great Engineering Challenge made a presentation which proposed a method of improving outreach programs based on understanding the interactions between all the groups involved. The presentation also made reference to the need to develop a common set of metrics to determine which programs are the most successful. During the conference an enormous sculpture of a snake, nick-named Ed, was unveiled to celebrate multi-disciplinary design education. The design and construction is part of a project that aims to give design students and construction students the practical skills to work together in the real world.

2007-03-12 The Great Engineering Challenge was a runner up the 2007 EnergyAustralia National Trust Heritage Awards. The Great Engineering Challenge was entered into the category of Education (Individuals) on the basis of the 2006 event for which the theme was ‘engineering heritage’. The aim of the 2006 program was to make heritage accessible, engaging and exciting. The Great Engineering Challenge believe the experience for the student was unique in that the enthusiasm from the organisers of the day was not the stereotypical emotion generally associated with heritage. Information technology was interwoven into the experience showing how developments in computing can be used to not only provide solutions utilising the best engineering methodologies but also to provide a reference point for tech-savvy students. The Great Engineering Challenge brought heritage into the information age, through regular updates of emerging issues in the news, factual analysis and guest speakers from industry.
A complete listing of the winners is available here.

2007-04-01 The Great Engineering Challenge is proud to announce the continued sponsorship from NRMA Motoring & Services. With the theme in 2007 'road safety' NRMA Motoring & Services is excited to be involved. Jack Haley stated that the "NRMA Motoring & Services has a long history of encouraging road and vehicle safety initiatives" and that NRMA Motoring & Services keen to supporting groups with similar aims. Jack said "the design of roadside barriers is one of the key determinants in crash outcomes, along with vehicle design to reduce injury in all types of collisions. NRMA is also heavily involved in studies and advocacy in relation to driver behaviour, to try and reduce the number of crashes occurring." By supporting the Great Engineering Challenge, NRMA Motoring & Services is helping the next generation of engineers grapple with real life engineering problems.