What an experience!
Our Patron HRH Duke of York KG invited the winners of the TeenTech Awards to Buckingham Palace so he could take a closer look at their projects and present them with special certificates to mark their achievement.
HRH Duke of York KG with Loreto Grammar School. Â Winners of the Healthcare Category, the Best International Collaboration and the Overall Winners of the TeenTech Awards
As one student from Archbishop Sentamu Academy remarked, he’d seen the Palace from the outside but never dreamt that he would ever walk through the gates and into a room used to receive heads of state and ambassadors from all over the world.
But on 1st July 2013 it was the turn of the 34 students who had come up with ground-breaking ideas and then had the tenacity to develop their projects for the very first TeenTech Awards. The Duke of York set them at their ease and surprised many with his keen and enthusiastic response to what he saw.
Loughborough Grammar show off an app that could transform education
Chatting to BBC reporter Rory Cellan Jones for the BBC News website he said “These are sparkling ideas, young people have a way of looking at the world from a very different perspective.
Students were tasked with finding ways to make life better, simpler or easier in ten categories. Sponsors and mentors agreed to support and  encourage teams, providing feedback and suggestions for further research.
It was a nerved racking day for one set of students who found themselves stranded on a train on their way down from Sheffield. However, the Palace team decided to reverse proceedings and Birkdale school arrived with literally seconds to spare before their turn to present their ideas to the Duke.
Birkdale School arrive just in time to impress the Duke with “Infection”
The TeenTech Awards team
Gia Milinovich, Maggie Philbin, Sue O’Hare, Helen Wilson, Karen Thomas
Notre Dame School in Greenock were also thrilled to receive a letter from Stuart McMillan MSP congratulating the school on their perfomance in the Awards. They won the Environment Category.
After an exciting morning in Buckingham Palace, the teams had lunch in St James Park before visiting the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition and finishing the day with a tour of the  BBC’s New Broadcasting House.
More pics coming soon!!!