Most of us only remember we have an appendix when it needs to be taken out, but in fact, it’s a key component of a healthy gut.

Paige Bebee of Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School in Melbourne has won one of Australia’s most prestigious science prizes for her video about the much maligned organ.

Bebee was awarded the Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize in the secondary school division on Wednesday. The award recognises excellence in communicating science, and is part of the national science awards, the Eureka Prizes, which recognise leading Australian research and innovation.

The ninth-grader’s entertaining video even features a cameo from her grandfather, Barry Marshall, who won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

The second prize in this category was awarded to Luke Cadorin-Taylor, a tenth-grader, who explores the world of brain injuries with animation.

Tenth-grade students Tom Downie and Harry Bebbington came third with a video that explains how gravity works, from falling apples to black holes.

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