Congratulations to the winner of the $1,500 barbecue

Following a very difficult judging process, we are delighted to announce the winner of the barbecue, and the winners of the digital radios.

Describing engineering is not an easy task – it’s a vast and complex profession, and engineers’ goals vary depending on their field of work. Yet, as our winner Daniel Indyk showed, it is possible to sum up the entire profession in a few powerful words.

Daniel’s entry was chosen as much for its originality as for its brevity. He said:

Engineering is the discipline of using I(E)NGINUITY combined with the known laws of science to design and create devices and systems that improve the overall quality of life for mankind.

His use of the word ‘ingenuity’ captures the essence of engineering: inventiveness and originality. We congratulate Daniel for his fantastic definition.

Winners of the minor competition

Congratulations also to the six winners of the minor competition, where we asked entrants to describe their field of engineering. We had entries from virtually every field – from common ones like structural and civil engineering, to less common fields like wind engineering research and photovoltaics.

But there could only be six winners. Congratulations to the following people for their clear and succinct entries:

Electrical engineering in simple terms is about the generation, transmission, distribution and conversion of electrical energy into sound, light, heat and movement.
Antonio Marino

Mechanical engineering is creating devices that are physical, involve movement and efficiently meet a defined need.
Phillip Campbell

Systems Engineering focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed, executed, controlled and managed. It combines the synergy of multidisciplinary fields of engineering to provide work-process and develop management tools to handle such complex projects.
Wai Wong

Renewable Energy – Solutions to save a planet.
David Anderton

Biomedical Engineering – Re-designing the most complex machine on earth, the human body.
Michelle Odlum

Coastal & maritime – Coastal engineering comprises understanding the natural forces of waves and tides on our coasts and ports and optimising our interaction with them in a sustainable way.
Lex Nielsen

We would like to thank everybody who participated in the competition for sharing your barbecue definitions with us. Your definitions will help us to spread the word about what the engineering profession can and does achieve.