AN Alcester schoolboy celebrated a design award at an event at the Thinktank Science Museum in Birmingham.

Finley Hawkins, 13, who attends St Benedict’s Catholic High School, received an Alu D and T Challenge Design Award.

But the challenge did not end there; Finley came to appreciate the extent of his achievement when he had to talk, at length, to an audience of leading industry experts, eminent architects, judges and talented winners in other categories.

His parents and DT teacher watched the Year 9 student give a confident account of his research and construction for the ‘garden building for a creative homeworker’ category.

The Alu D and T Challenge is a national schools’ competition, linked to the design and technology curriculum.

Pupils are tasked with designing a sustainable product for the future using aluminium.

The design tasks are based on real-life briefs faced by designers, engineers and manufacturers in three categories - transport, building and packaging.

Finley said: “This is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I didn’t think I’d get this far. I’ve always wanted to do architecture or engineering and this has really motivated me to consider it as a career.

“It has given me confidence and made me seriously think about my future."

Around 1,600 Key Stage 3 students took part in this national competition, over 100 entries were submitted and 18 students were shortlisted for the finals.

The winning entry in each of the three design categories received a Magnetic MODI robotics kit and a Mini Mambo Drone for their school plus £100 worth of vouchers for each of the pupils.