RANKIN INLET - Stephanie Yarema and Denise Graham finished ahead of a strong field to take top spot at the Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik Science Fair in Rankin Inlet this past week.

Grade 10 student Israel Aliyak displays a snow knife from his Traditional Inuit Tools project at Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik's Science Fair this past week in Rankin Inlet. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

The two Grade 10 students did a highly detailed, informative and fun project titled, Is Perception Reality?

The Grade 10 science students made it a sweep of the top awards when Tera Yarema and Haley White were named as the secondplace finishers for their project, Water, while third place went to Robbie Joe Tudlik and Brent Ford for their work on the Best Types of Insulation.

A total of 61 projects were entered in this year's fair from the junior and senior high school students.

The younger kids at Leo Ussak Elementary School in Rankin held their own separate science fair for the second year in a row to help prepare them for the bigger event that awaits them when they leave elementary.

High school science teacher Katharine O'Connell said while the number of entered projects was down slightly from the previous year, the calibre of many of the submitted works remained extremely high.

O'Connell said she was quite impressed with a number of projects submitted by junior high students, which she found to be creative, nicely displayed and very interesting.

She said the top prize winners are looking forward to competing at the Kivalliq Regional Science Fair which will be at Qitiqliq School in Arviat early in the new year.

"In 2008 we had considerably more projects entered than we did in 2007, so it seems to come in waves and fluctuates from year to year," said O'Connell.

"We had a nice turnout for our public evening showing, and the students really enjoyed the little science show we put on again this year during the fair.

"We encouraged a lot of student participation in this year's show and that seemed to go over very well with most of the kids.

"The fire displays are always a big hit with the students, and our grand finale of launching a bottle rocket also seemed to be enjoyed by everyone who attended."