AARAS Competitions
A STEM competition open to every school, library and family
Next edition in planning
AARAS Education runs its own open STEM competition. Schools, libraries, community groups and families are all welcome to take part, alongside AARAS students. There's no live competition running right now, we're planning the next edition. Register your interest below and we'll be in touch when it's ready.
Past editions
A growing track record, real results
AARAS has been running open STEM competitions since 2020, each shaped around a different theme, including partnerships with sponsors like Snowy Hydro.
Engineer Your Path (2024)
In partnership with Snowy Hydro and Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail. Students explored engineering principles through interactive builds, Scratch coding and CAD design, judged across Kindy to high school. Celebrated at an award ceremony hosted at Parramatta Library in December 2024.
2024 winners included Auric (Northmead Public School, Kindy–Year 2), Jayvis (St Bernadette's Primary Dundas Valley, Years 2–6), and Victoria (Wattle Grove, High School).
Power of Water (2023)
In partnership with Snowy Hydro. Students tackled real energy challenges through coding, applying computational thinking to sustainability problems.
2023 winners included Class 2M (Sapphire Coast Anglican College, Kindy–Year 2) and James (Trinity Grammar Preparatory School, Years 3–6).
Christmas Coding Adventure (2020)
AARAS's first coding competition, open to students across Sydney: entrants coded their own Christmas adventure story in Scratch.
Winners included Yusuf (Carlton Public School, Year 5), Yaqoob (Carlton Public School, Year 1), and Mithra (Darcy Road Public School, Year 2), each winning a free place in an AARAS program.
Deserted Island (2019)
A storytelling coding challenge: students were stranded on a deserted island and had to code their own escape adventure in Scratch, building the setting, characters and dialogue as they went.
Who it's for
Built for schools, libraries and families
Anyone can take part, alongside AARAS's own students.
For schools
Ready-made lesson plans, teacher training and classroom resources make it easy to run the competition as part of term time.
For libraries and community groups
Free workshops and a complete resource package help you host the competition for your community. No coding experience required.
For families
Students take part from home or school, building real coding and engineering skills while working toward a shared goal.
Ready for the next one?
Register your interest in AARAS's next STEM competition
We'll let you know as soon as details are announced. If your organisation is interested in partnering on a future competition, we'd love to hear from you too.