Awards judge seeks health projects

Robert Crook of Pfizer said his company was keenly waiting to see the quality of entries for the fifth Bright Spark Awards, and added: “We’d be really excited if some of the students could submit some that are linked to healthcare, wellbeing, and improving the future lives of people.”

Bright Sparks - Pfizer from Inspire Schools on Vimeo.

Entrants have until 31 May to submit science or technology projects undertaken at school or science club. The competition, which is open to Primary and Secondary schools across the South East, has three categories: invention, investigation and innovation.

Coordinator of the contest, Hannah Hawksworth, said: “Careers in medicine and medical research are just one of the avenues that Stem subjects open up for young people, and it would be great if these awards helped to nudge a few young people in that direction.

“But there are no restrictions on the type of projects that schools and young people can submit so long as they are practical and relate to science, technology, engineering or maths.”

Last year, there were a number of impressive health-related Bright Spark entries. The Simon Langton Girls MBP2 Project team conducted research for an ongoing collaborative project exploring the causes of multiple sclerosis. Meanwhile pupils at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar constructed a Mapping Aid for the Blind - inspired by one of the team member’s visually-impaired parent.

Apart from Pfizer, the judging organisations are Discovery Park, BAE Systems, Global Associates, Kent Renewable Energy, 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.

Find out more, including how to enter, at the Bright Sparks Award website

Contact Details

Hannah Hawksworth
Telephone: 08442 640291
Email: hhawksworth@thekmgroup.co.uk