It may be the first time Amy De Friskbom has entered the STANSW Young Scientist Awards, but she is among its top achievers.
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The Sapphire Coast Anglican College student entered with three other Year 8 students from her school; Grace Burns, Preethi Benjamin and Aidan Clark.
On Friday November 1, Amy travelled to Wollongong for the awards ceremony, as she had come second in the working technologically category for Years 7 and 8 with her methane generator.
"I was very surprised!" she said.
"I woke up, looked up my emails and it said I won something.
"I was really shocked, but I was happy to come second, it feels really good."
Her methane generator converts cow manure to an eco-friendly gas to be used as energy.
It was a project that took five months and over 100 hours to build.
"I'm not really an English person, I like to build the stuff more than write the stuff," she said.
"I was hoping that dairy farmers with a lot of waste can use this to power their dairies."
Both Preethi and Grace also had an environmental focus to their projects, looking at using natural dyes in fashion and the impact of washing detergent on marine life, while Aidan focused on winglets on planes.
Science/biology teacher Casey Hoynes said the projects were a "huge commitment".
Amy is now eligible to enter the national awards, with the winners announced at the end of the year.
