Thinking green could yield awards victory
1 May 2019
Encourage eco-aware students to channel their passion into science contest the Bright Spark Awards.
The Bright Spark Awards aim to encourage young people to get excited about STEM subjects - and one of the contest’s judges is particularly hoping to see projects channelling entrants’ environmental engagement.
The awards encourage teams of Primary or Secondary school students to collaborate using cross-curricular skills in subjects including science, technology, engineering and maths. Entrants can submit schoolwork, science club projects or even science-based projects done for fun at home.
Joining the judging panel this year is Kent Renewable Energy, which is encouraging entries relating to the environment and clean energy.
Colin Dobson, general manager of the firm, said: “We’re keen to encourage people to get involved in engineering, and that’s why we want to be involved in the Bright Spark Awards initiative. We’re looking for people that are looking at what our business does producing electricity - but also considering the environmental impacts of generating electricity.”
He added: “If we get good candidates covering those fields of electricity and the environment, we’d look to offer them an experience day around the site to get a better understanding of how a power station works.”
Coordinator of the contest, Hannah Hawksworth, said: “We’re thrilled to have such enthusiastic judges on the panel. They naturally hope some entries will gravitate towards their areas of expertise but entrants can submit any type of project. Previous finalists have submitted projects ranging from creating the perfect bath bomb to investigating microplastics in the ecosystem.”
The remaining judging organisations are Discovery Park, BAE Systems, Global Associates, Atkins Global, Megger, Pfizer, The ITL Group, Highways England and Golding Vision.
The best contenders will be visited in school to be filmed talking about their project and later battle it out at a Dragons’ Den-style final, where they will present their work and answer questions from the judges. There will be several prize winners and the overall champions will share £500 between them.
The Bright Spark Awards are organised by the KM Charity Team and encourage entries from teams, although individual students can submit their own projects. Multiple projects can be entered and will be judged separately.
The deadline for submitting entries is 31 May. Find out more at the Bright Sparks Awards website
Contact Details
Hannah Hawksworth
Telephone: 08442 640291
Email: hhawksworth@thekmgroup.co.uk