2004 is the sixth Year that the Australian (formerly Queensland) Secondary Schools Digital Design Challenge has been conducted, Secondary schools throughout Australia are invited to participate in an activity that encourages and rewards students in the creation, fostering, and promotion of new and original ways of thinking that challenge the conventional. This paper will look at many aspects of the competition, in order to give guidance and direction to educators, including the viewing of the past award winners, this years National winning designs, the design briefs given, design professionals feedback on these designs, and the analyses of data gathered from six years of participating schools, students and judges. This presentation includes the: 堅ffective design techniques and processes used by the students; 堔ransitional changes of teaching techniques and graphics software over the past 6 years, and why teachers have migrated to these teaching approaches and specific software programs; 堁nalyses by the design professionals who judge the competition on how design teaching processes can be improved for students to become more effective at conceptualising and ideation using digital technology as a tool; 堁nalyses of the ongoing benefits and outcomes of the competition; giving equal opportunity, recognition, encouragement, networking, and rewarding students, educators and schools; 堓even stages of design learning.