Hundreds of school students battled it out for honours at the 2008 Celebration of Engineering staged at in Glasgow mid-June, with the topmost award going to a north-east school.
Banff Academy won the SCDI Club of the Year Trophy, which comes with a £750 cash prize and tickets to SCDI’s gala dinner and tickets to the Science Centre.
“We had a record entry of 60 Young Engineers Clubs from all over Scotland – from Orkney to Dumfries,” said Scottish Council Development & Industry north-east manager Ian Armstrong.
“The judges plumped for Banff because of their great ideas and the hard work and dedication which the club had put in over the course of the year.
“Scotland’s engineering and manufacturing sectors have gone through a tough time, but if we can harness the inventiveness and drive of these young engineers then they must surely have a brighter future.”
Maureen Traquair, skills and learning development manager at OPITO, who co-ordinates the YECs network in the north-east, said: “I am delighted that Banff Academy are the Young Engineers Club of the Year 2008 as it could not have been awarded to a more deserving club.
“David Pirie is tireless in his work with the club and he is an inspiration to many of the pupils he works with.
“Every lunchtime, there are pupils working on one of the many projects they undertake. Congratulations to all those involved.”
Pirie is a teacher at the school.
Twenty-seven companies set technology challenges and 50 or so guests came along to view the action. In all, more than 600 school pupils, teachers and companies took part.
Event partners were the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), Lloyds Register and offshore training standards setter Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO). Judges were chaired by Colin Crichton, engineering director at BAA, and included representatives from BERR, OPITO and Lloyd’s Register.
The full list of winners of the Young Engineers Clubs Scotland awards for 2008 is as follows:
Primary Technology Challenge (trophy and £250): Hillhead Primary School, Kirkintilloch.
Secondary Technology Challenge (trophy and £500): Peebles High School.
Primary Showcase (trophy and £250): Sanderson’s Wynd Primary, Tranent.
Secondary Showcase (trophy and £500): St Joseph’s College, Dumfries.
ICE Telford 250 Design Competition (gift vouchers, cheque for school and certificate): Clarkston Primary, Airdrie.
Swanston Memorial Prize for Best Individual Achievement (trophy and £100): Janna Phillips, Institute of Applied Technology, Fife.
Cradlesafe Award for Best Innovation (trophy): Zakari MacDonald, Mossneuk Primary, East Kilbride.
SCDI Club of the Year (trophy and £750, plus tickets to SCDI’s gala dinner and tickets to Glasgow Science Centre): Banff Academy.