Breens Intermediate student Yiting Su won the 2025 Wrybill Trophy for showing how tī kōuka leaves could replace imported fibres and reduce landfill waste.
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Youth awards
We support and sponsor regional awards for students to recognise and reward young people who are thinking and acting for a sustainable future.
Wrybill Trophy Award 2025 winner Yiting Su (centre) from Breens Intermediate, pictured with runner-up students (left to right): Jess Beeby and Ella Metcalf (Craighead Diocesan School), Holly Chapman (Ashburton Intermediate) and Cat Meharry (Cashmere High School).
Environment Canterbury Resource Management Awards and the Wrybill Trophy
The Resource Management Awards are a special award category within Canterbury’s Schools Science and Technology Fairs, held each year in Christchurch, Timaru and Ashburton.
These awards recognise students whose projects demonstrate strong investigation, innovation and solution-focused thinking in response to real environmental challenges facing Waitaha Canterbury. Projects often explore issues such as water quality, biodiversity, land use, climate resilience and sustainable resource management.
At each fair, Resource Management Awards are presented in both junior and senior categories. The winners are then invited to present their projects at a special Council meeting, providing students with the opportunity to share their ideas and solutions directly with councillors and staff.
From these presentations, one project is selected as the overall winner and awarded the Wrybill Trophy - recognising outstanding environmental inquiry, leadership and impact.
We have supported the Resource Management Awards since 1996, with the Wrybill Trophy introduced in 2002.
Young Enterprise Scheme
From 2023, we will be awarding a prize to Waitaha students involved in the Young Enterprise Scheme who show a commitment to environmental sustainability in their business plans.