STEP has given a prize for projects relating to environmental protection and conservation in the Science Teachers Association of NSW Young Scientists Awards for 24 years.

STEPs winner for 2025 is Tamaya Cooper from Elizabeth Macarthur High School. Cooper used radio telemetry data to investigate roost preferences of the Little Forest Bat in coastal sclerophyll forests. He found that roost trees were larger and taller with more hollows than non-roost trees in the same habitat. His results demonstrate the need to consider both local and landscape features when considering conservation measures for microbat species.