Near miss for Alex in top students awardsAlthough local student Alex Robinson's innovative science project
on Salmonella detection received high praise from the judges it just missed out
for one of the top prizes in this year's prestigious CREST
Awards.
Although local student Alex Robinson's innovative science
project on Salmonella detection received high praise from the judges it just
missed out for one of the top prizes in this year's prestigious CREST
Awards.The annual CREST Awards - Creativity in Engineering, Science and
Technology - is a secondary school project-based competition organised by the
British Association for the Advancement of Science which draws in hundreds of
entries each year. One of the two major sections of the awards is the
AstraZeneca Science Programme and regional winners, who had already won
£500 for their school's science department, took part in the finals held
at Loughborough University at the end of June.The judges, four of whom came from AstraZeneca R&D
Charnwood, had a difficult task to decide the three top projects each of which
received cheques for £1,000 for their school from the near 100 projects
on show. Also chosen on the day was the AstraZeneca Young Scientist of the Year
who was given a £500 award to help with future studies.Alex Robinson, a student at King Edward V11 Community College in
Coalville, received four 'rosettes' from the judges for his project which
reduced the time taken for the detection of Salmonella from the usual five days
down to just one.AstraZeneca's John Thomson, one of the four judges from the
company, said: "Alex was the only local entry. He represented the area well but
unfortunately was not chosen as a winner. It is a valuable project and is
already in use." "AstraZeneca is proud to be associated with such a prestigious
competition and to be involved in encouraging these aspiring young scientists
who represent the future of science development in this country. The whole
event at Loughborough University, hosted by television's Sian Lloyd, was very
well attended and enjoyable and the enthusiasm and skill of the students made
the choice of winners extremely difficult," he said.Chosen as the AstraZeneca Young Scientist of the Year was
Alistair Connell who received his award from the company's Dr. Colin Reddrop. A
new version of the AstraZeneca Science Programme - Inspiring Science - was
launched during the event. Copies will be sent to schools and it is also
available on the AstraZeneca corporate website. Ends
