Buddi app wows at Melbourne iAwards!

The Buddi Team from Dianella Secondary College travelled to the National iAwards last week to compete against Senior High School Student Teams Year 10-12 from across Australia for a National Innovation Award.
 
The National iAwards pitch event is hosted by KPMG in their Melbourne Head Office.  On Wednesday, 28 August, the Buddi team pitched their business concept in front of a truly accomplished judging panel, addressing the following iAwards criteria;

• Why - why they chose the problem they chose to solve, and how they validated the problem;
• What - what their solution encompasses and a walk through of their technology and their project journey;
• How - how their technology meets the requirements of the end users.  

Despite feeling very nervous and overwhelmed, the girls pushed through their 10 minute pitch followed by 10 minutes of Q & A...and totally nailed it!
 
The following evening, more than 600 people filed into the Melbourne Convention Centre for a Gala Celebration Dinner hosted by the AIIA.  During a night of glitz and glamour similar to the Oscars, our girls networked with Australia's best innovators like true professionals. 
 
There were three Student Categories announced at the beginning of the evening with each category giving a merit award and a winner.  There is a 5% gap between the merit award and the winner's score or no merit will be announced. 

At a National event where The Wiggles were awarded a prize for new innovation that teaches children to read,  Buddi went on to win the Merit Award in the Senior Student Category and have qualified to pitch their concept at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards in Vietnam early October!

Congratulations to our girls on such a fantastic achievement!! 
​