A panel of five judges (Dr Gary McKay – a remote sensing archaeologist; Dr Claudia da Costa Matthews, a Pfizer scientist; Mr Andy Puncher, architect & director of pH+; Mrs Liz Schuricht, a ceramicist and designer and Mrs Liz Daley a former Marlborough House teacher) listened and scrutinised the ten entries for a total prize fund of £1000.   The Marlborough House entrants all presented well and demonstrated some creative thinking.  Some collaborated well in teams and others carried out a lot of research.  The judging panel were particularly impressed with Jemma, Inés and Esmé’s  “Electro Shoes”; Thomas, Nick and Henry’s “multi-opener” and Ethan’s “Omega – a new PV material”.   It was Alex’s entry, taking an existing idea from the NFL and applying it to the premiership (good lateral thinking) which was presented with the most authority which earned him a 3^rd = prize of £100.

The winning entry was from a pupil at Bethany school, who had made a prototype dynamo, using a 3D printer to utilise the gravitational potential energy in a loo flushing system to generate electricity. 

All available participants benefitted from the WACI experiential prize day on 4^th July (see separate report), a prize that money could not buy.   The winner(s) of the internal Daley-Bryan prize will be announced at Prizegiving.

This pioneering initiative is gaining momentum with many companies and expert individuals (scientists, engineers, architects, designers and teachers) keen to be involved.  Next year we hope it will spread further into more independent and state funded schools, potentially gaining more sponsorship and experiential prize options.  It may not be part of the bread and butter of what a school does; but this insight, experience and creativity will help to prepare your children for a fast changing and unpredictable world: one where adaptability and creativity will be as, if not more important, than the grades on their school exam certificates.