The Flinders University Hub and Plaza played host to the finals of the 2021 Cochlear Aurora Photo Contest awards on Thursday, 2 December 2021. Hosted by STEM Women Branching Out and featuring Jess Adamson as MC, this year's event showcased female STEM alumni who gave talks about their studies and careers in STEM.

The awards, aimed at encouraging women into STEM, and is open to year 7-12 students across South Australia and, for the first time, the Northern Territory. Entries are science-based photographs, judged on the quality of the photo, creativity of the concept, clear communication and explanation of the photo.

This year saw a record number of entries (100) as the contest continues to grow at an impressive pace. There was a prize pool of $6700 awarded across all categories, including individual categories for Best Physics, Best Natural photo, BestSTEM/M, Best Regional entries and Best entry from an Indigenous student.

First place in the individual honours for Years 11 & 12 from South Australian students was awarded to Lillian Ernst from Mary MacKillop College for her photo Eternal Flame.

First place in the individual honours for Years 7-10 students from South Australia went to Emily Faggotter from Gleeson College with her photo: Super Blood Moon.

First place in the individual honours for Years 11 & 12 from Northern Territory students was awarded to Rosanna Materazzo, Darwin High School for her photo: Underwater Vortex.

First place in the individual honours for Years 7-10 from Northern Territory students was awarded to Sophie-Lee Fisher – Home Education of the NT for her photo: Hot Hot Hot.

In a special ceremony at Flinders University (on Thursday 11 February), coinciding with the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Flinders physics lecturer Associate Professor Maria Parappilly amongst other academics presented the winners of the 2020 Cochlear Aurora Photo contest.

First place in the individual honours for Years 11 & 12 students was awarded to YiAn Fang from Seymour College for her photo The magic of a crystal ball.

First place in the individual honours for Years 7-10 students went to Claudia Coggan from Glenunga International High School for her photo Cloven-Hooved Climate Change.

People’s Choice Awards for photos that made the most people talk about science went to Jade Whiting from Mitcham Girls High School, for Eye see the sea in the Years 7-10 category, and to Jessica Sampson from Wudinna Area School for Urban Rainbow in the Years 11-12 category.

The judges also awarded another prize for a photo that received 255 excellent scientific comments – to Year 8 student Alexandra Seal from Loreto College for Come Full Circle.