People in Cumbria are being urged to back a group of students who have made it to the national finals of a Amazon entrepreneur competition.
The students from St Benedict’s Catholic High School in Whitehaven have made it to the national finals of the Amazon Longitude Explorer Prize and voting has now opened.
The Amazon Longitude Explorer Prize, delivered by Nesta Challenges, pairs entrepreneurial skills not usually taught in the classroom with the STEM curriculum to encourage young innovators from across the UK aged 11-16 to create tech solutions to the big challenges of our time – like climate change, healthy living, ageing well and staying better connected.
The 40 teams in the running have been working with tech industry mentors to develop prototypes of their ideas ahead of the final judging in July where the winner will be awarded £20,000 for their school or youth group, while three runners up will win £5,000 each.
The money can be used to purchase school resources.
EcoKnow by Alisha Seath, 13, and Isabelle Ritchie, 14, at St. Benedict’s, is an app that scans household rubbish and indicates the nearest, suitable recycling point for the item in question, alongside information on its carbon footprint.
Their idea is all the more impressive given that they developed and submitted it at the height of lockdown while working remotely.
Today the Amazon Longitude Explorer People’s Choice Award launches, calling on the public to vote for its favourite invention in the running for the prize.
To vote, visit longitudeexplorer.challenges.org – the voting closes on July 2.
