Effective university level education in animal nutrition requires both research-led teaching and motivated students (Brew, 1999). With the aim of providing both of these requirements, we established the "State of Origin Chicken Challenge" competition. This annual event capitalises on Australian students' love of sporting competition (albeit linked to sport in name only) and incorporates this into the teaching of animal nutrition. Practical activities involving diet formulation and the effects of different diets on chicken growth have been part of the traditional animal nutrition curriculum at most universities. The basis of the current competition was that students at the University of New England, Armidale (UNE) and The University of Queensland, Gatton (UQ) would formulate diets and subsequently feed these diets to chickens at both campuses. The competition winner is the university that grows the greatest weight of chicken per dollar of feedstuff.