The winning competitors in the annual Royal Navy Engineering Challenge 2020 have been announced.
The competition was originally scheduled to take place in March, when schools were impacted by the coronavirus lockdown, but recently surfaced again to complete in-camera. The RN team filmed the competing vessels at HMS Sultan, so that the schools could see months of project work rewarded.
Held in partnership with Eaton Ltd, Babcock and BAE Systems, the Challenge aimed to inspire young people to engage further with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, by designing and building a remote-controlled vessel to deliver humanitarian aid to a hurricane-hit island.
Over 60 teams embarked on the Challenge in late 2019, a quarter of whom battled on to appear in the final, despite a prolonged period of disruption. A highlights video was shared with all who started the project, showing the winning vessels in action and pointing out key STEM lessons learned.
Trophies were awarded across nine different categories, between groups aged 14-16, 16-18 and apprentices from industry aged 18-24, with ‘Team TBD’ from Greater Peterborough University Technical College (UTC) declared the Overall Winner, as well as Winning the Key Stage 5 Competition and Presentation.
Key Stage 4 students from the WMG Academy, Coventry scooped up four of the trophies on offer with their team ‘HMS Seals’ taking the Key Stage 4 Winners’ trophy, along with prizes for Innovation, Sustainability and Manufacturing. Other trophies were awarded to UTC Warrington (Key Stage 4 Presentation) and BAE Systems (Apprentices Winner).
Greater Peterborough UTC's Beck Morgan, age 17, said: “It has been great to finish the competition, especially after all the disappointment earlier this year. It was great to see the video of our entry in the water performing as we had hoped. We were amazed and very proud to have won the competition. Thank you to the Navy for making it all possible.”
The Navy’s lead for training projects, Commodore Andy Cree, said: “We are delighted to have completed the Final of the 2020 Royal Navy Engineering Challenge, which remains a key component of the Royal Navy’s schools STEM programme. The original event was postponed due to Coronavirus constraints, but we were able to hold the competition in-camera and share videos and lessons learned with the competitors. We will continue to develop innovative ways to present practical Engineering programmes for young people, irrespective of the prevailing conditions.”
Prize Winners
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Award
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Team Name
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UTC
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Innovation
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HMS Seals
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WMG Academy
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Best Manufacture
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HMS Seals
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WMG Academy
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Sustainability
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HMS Seals
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WMG Academy
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Presentation Key Stage 4
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Wavy Navy
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UTC Warrington
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Presentation Key Stage 5
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Team TBD
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Greater Peterborough UTC
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Winner - Key Stage 4
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HMS Seals
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WMG Academy
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Winner – Key Stage 5
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Team TBD
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Greater Peterborough UTC
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Winner - Apprentices
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Team Intrepid
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BAE Systems
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Overall Winner
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Team TBD
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Greater Peterborough UTC
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