Katie Stanton was invited by the Australian Geographic Competition to participate in a week-long fieldwork course, the Big Week Out, as one of the top-performing students in her cohort.

The Big Week Out is held after the national competition, and is by invitation only by the competition organisers, to all the high achieving winners from each state.

This year's Big Week Out will be held at Kangaroo Island, in South Australia.

Miss Stanton said she had an interest in geography since she was in grade five but had held onto that passion through her middle and senior school years.

"I enjoy learning about the environment and how people relate," she said.

Miss Stanton said geography was about a lot more than just remembering the capital cities of the world and was the intersection of a lot of different global topics.

"One of the parts of geography that I am interested in is climate change," she said.

The environment was a fascinating thing because it appeared fragile at times but it was something that affected every living person and animal.

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"It deserves our attention," Miss Stanton said.

The Australian Geography Competition is open to Australian secondary schools and is a test like an exam to assess students' knowledge and skills.

Miss Stanton studies geography at Launceston Church Grammar school through a partnership between the independent schools because the subject is not offered at LCS.

She said her teacher at Grammar had produced the competition test and told his students they would be participating.

"I had always seen advertisements for the competition but I'd never really thought to enter before," Miss Stanton said.

However, since her win, Miss Stanton said she would encourage other people to consider participating, to get the same opportunity she said.

Fieldwork will form part of the Big Week Out, and Miss Stanton said she was looking forward to experiencing what life is like working in the field, rather than studies and tests.

The Big Week Out will be held in December.

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