Monkfield Park Primary School in Cambourne topped the leader-board, taking first, second and third places for the ‘building’ category. Year Two pupil Lauren A was awarded the top spot for her ‘Busy Bee’ drone, which she hopes will deliver toys to children who don’t have any.
Second place went to Olli H, age six, for his ‘Fin 100’ drone, which will deliver his favourite foods; egg on toast and pizza, and third place to Nithyan K, age nine, for his ‘First Aid’ delivery drone.
The successful young engineers were awarded their prizes in a special ceremony during a school assembly. Winning students took home gift baskets of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) prizes, and won up to £3,500 for their schools. First place winners will now get the chance to tour Amazon Prime Air’s Development Centre in Cambridge, where their creations will be on display for a month.
Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council, Gillian Beasley, a competition judge, said: “The standard of the entries and creativity shown is testament to the imagination of primary school students in the county. It was a fantastic competition to judge, and the selected winning entries showed a real engagement with using science to create. I hope this will act as inspiration for students in the future.”
A student from Ditton Lodge Primary School won in the ‘drawing’ category, with Year Four student Kyla D-F producing the winning first place entry for her ‘V.E.T (Veterinary Emergency Transport)’ drone. Thomas G and Tayla C, both age eight, from Earith Primary School in Huntingdon, came in second and third, respectively, for their ‘Stunting Scouts’ and ‘Colourful Copy’ drones.
As part of its Amazon in the Community programme, Amazon invited children across Cambridgeshire to play their part in the future of science and technology. Students were asked to draw or build their own interpretation of a model delivery drone using materials found in their everyday lives, andwinning entries were chosen for their creativity, application of science and the benefit the drone would bring to society.
The winning drone designs were chosen from nearly 500 applicants – whittled down by a panel of prestigious judges. Judges included Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Jeremy Benstead; Councillor Lewis Herbert, Leader of the Cambridge City Council; Jonathan Nicholson, Assistant Director of Corporate Communications, UK Civil Aviation Authority; and David Hardcastle, Amazon UK.
Lauren Kisser, Operations Director at Amazon Prime Air, commented: “We developed this competition to encourage students and teachers to think about science and drones in a different way. Just as Prime Air will make shopping greener, safer and easier than driving to the store, the winners of this competition were able to harness this technology for wider social good with drones delivering pet care, first aid and charity donations. The judges worked hard on selecting the winning submissions, and we’re really pleased with the results. We can’t wait to present the prizes to the schools and winning students.”
The Amazon in the Community programme focuses on helping children succeed in today’s digital society and economy, including creating a positive learning environment, helping young people into work and developing essential STEM skills.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.
Amazon Prime Air
Prime Air is a future delivery system from Amazon designed to safely get parcels up to 5 pounds to customers in 30 minutes or less using small drones. For more information on Prime Air, visit www.amazon.com/primeair.
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