Competition asks: What do engineers do?

A unique new competition aims to educate Australians on engineering.

A postie delivers mail. A journo reports on current events. A garbo collects rubbish.

So, what does an engineer do?

Don't know? Well, don't worry. Only 37% of Australians have some idea how to answer this question, according to a study commissioned by Engineers Australia last year.

In an effort to generate more understanding and interest around engineering as a career, Engineers Australia has launched the "Make it so" campaign.

The campaign centres around the concept that if you can imagine it, engineers can make it so. It highlights engineering as a career that involves imagination, dedication and logic, in order to bring imagined concepts to life.

The competition is pretty unique: the public are asked to finish the sentence "Make it so... " with anything, and submit this as an entry.

The fun part is, anyone can log on to the website, watch the wacky submissions roll in, and vote for a weekly winner from now til 10 May.

A clever cloud of popular tags generates recurring keywords, from Avatar to solar. Submissions are also searchable by topic.

The competition culminates in the choosing of one winner, and an appointed team of engineers will show off their skills and make the idea so.

The website is a bit of fun, and an eye-opener about both engineers, and the imaginations and desires of the Australian people.