Creative Ideas are Recognised with Awards
Ciaran McGuire with his bridal dress design
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Designers and engineers of the future showcased their creative ideas at the annual Young Engineer, Designer and Technologist competition at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum last week.
Imaginative students from six schools in Northumberland unveiled their ideas and inventions at the annual event, which is organised by the Rotary Club of Hexham and sponsored by the Schools of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences and the Built Environment, and the School of Design at Northumbria University.
Graham Bradshaw, science and society project manager, says:
“This competition recognises the hard work, innovation and determination of these talented young engineers and designers.
“This year’s entries were, once again, of extremely high standard resulting in some tough decision-making for the judges. The winners were well deserved and we hope holding this annual event in Discovery Museum has inspired them for future projects.”
GCSE and A-level pupils from Prudhoe Community High School; Coquet High School, Amble; Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham; King Edward Sixth School Morpeth; Duchess School Community High School Alnwick; competed against each other in four categories.
Ciaran McGuire from Duchess School Community High School Alnwick won 1st prize in the Post-16 category for his textiles project inspired by Bram Stokers Dracula and Jonathan Foster from The King Edward VI School, Morpeth won won 1st prize in the Pre-16 for his inspired metronome design. The overall School Award was presented to Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham and their student Matthew Armitt scooped up the Associates Award for his contemporary light design which was judged by his peers in the competition.
The participation of the schools was arranged by Northumberland Education Business Partnership.
While the students are at Discovery Museum, they will also be giving their opinions on objects which they think museums should be collecting for the future.
Robert Hull, Chairman of the Hexham Rotary Club Vocational Committee says:
“Hexham Rotary Club is delighted to be organising the competition again. This year the competition had been widened to allow the inclusion of engineering, food technology and environmental technology projects.
“This year's competition inspired some interesting new ideas and led to a larger number of entries from across schools in Northumberland.”
Julie Walters, head of undergraduate student recruitment at the School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences at Northumbria University, says:
“We’re delighted to support such a worthwhile event and hope that some of these students may be inspired to continue in this field to study at University”
Entries in previous years have included a solar survival system, fashion designs and games consoles.
Discovery Museum is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 2pm to 5pm. Admission is free.