and the 2026 Winner is...
Young Australians designing solutions for a more just and inclusive society.
★ 2026 WINNING TEAM
[Insert title]
[Insert 2–3 sentence summary of the student idea]
Winning School
[Insert school name]
Project Title
[Insert title]
— SUBMISSIONS
Student Projects
The challenge invited students to explore how ethical leadership can help address racism in their communities. Explore the student submissions below.
— DESIGN OUT RACISM
About the
Challenge
The Design Out Racism Challenge is part of the Ethics-Centred Leadership – Design New Futures program.
Through a series of interactive learning modules, Year 10 students develop a personal ethics framework and apply it to a real-world challenge: racism in their communities.
Working in teams, students design a practical response and present their ideas through a one-minute “Video for Change” — encouraging empathy, awareness and action.
The program combines ethics education, systems thinking and collaborative design, helping students move beyond identifying problems to imagining and creating solutions.
How the Program Works
Learn
Students explore ethics, values and systems thinking through guided lessons that help them develop a personal ethics framework.
Understand the Issue
Teams identify a real challenge related to racism or discrimination within their communities and analyse the underlying causes.
Design a Solution
Students develop an idea that addresses the issue in a constructive and ethical way.
Create a Video for Change
Teams produce a one-minute video presenting their idea and inspiring positive action.
Bring Ideas to Life
Winning teams receive funding to help bring their ideas into practice.
— Why Ethics Matters
Why Ethics
Matters
Young people today are growing up in a world defined by rapid technological change, global uncertainty and complex social challenges.
Helping students develop the ability to think ethically, understand systems and collaborate with others is becoming an essential part of preparing them for the future.
Programs like the Design Out Racism Challenge demonstrate how ethics education can strengthen:
By giving students the opportunity to design solutions to real-world challenges, the program helps young people build the confidence and capability to contribute positively to their communities.
Preparing young people to navigate an increasingly complex world requires more than knowledge alone.
— Design Out Racism ChallengeCritical thinking
Empathy and perspective-taking
Civic responsibility
Collaborative leadership
— COLLABORATION AND DELIVERY
Program Partners
This initiative is delivered through a partnership between:
FOUNDATION PARTNER
Menzies Leadership Foundation
A philanthropic foundation dedicated to strengthening leadership for the greater good.
Program Partner
The Ethics Centre
An independent organisation advancing ethical thinking and practice across Australian society.
— NEXT STEPS
Looking Ahead
The Design Out Racism Challenge represents an early pilot within the Menzies Leadership Foundation’s Emerging Leaders initiative.
The Foundation is exploring how challenge-based learning models like this could be expanded in the future — enabling more students across Australia to develop ethical reasoning, leadership capability and civic responsibility.
Preparing young people to navigate an increasingly complex world requires more than knowledge alone.
It requires the ability to think ethically, understand systems, and work with others to create positive change.
Ethical reasoning
Developing the capacity to think clearly and act with integrity in complex situations.
Leadership capability
Building collaborative, adaptive and values-driven leaders for the next generation.
Civic responsibility
Enabling more students across Australia to contribute positively to their communities.
