The winners of the UK Young Engineer of the Year and UK Young Technologist of the Year awards have been announced at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham.
The UK Young Engineer award was given to Pacha Pritchard, a Year 12 student at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern School in Cardiff.
She designed a portable pollution monitor which reads local pollution levels and responds with a happy or unhappy emoji face.
“STEM is the future and women are part of that future,” Pacha said.
The Big Bang Junior Engineering Award went to a group of students from St Aidan’s High School in Lanarkshire, for their project called a “Theme Park for the Future.”
The group, consisting of Genevieve Brennan, Jamie McShane, Kevin McGuigan, Naimh Clarke, Rosa Hodge and Sam Brown, research the eco-policies of British theme parks and designed a new one with a minimised carbon footprint.
“We planned, designed and modelled rollercoasters that used renewable and sustainable energy sources. Our 3 main ideas were to use wind, solar and kinetic energy produced by park visitors,” the students said.
The Big Bang Intermediate Engineering Award was won by Year 11 student Keon Robert from Queen Elizabeth School in Barnet.
His project “Green Pot, growing the future” consisted of a hydroponic agricultural technique with automatic irrigation and LED lighting to grow plants without soil.
Several other awards were given on the night, including the Big Bang Young Technologist of the Year award, supported by Siemens, and the Big Bang Senior Technology Award.
