Youngsters who dream of being the next Tim Peake or Brian Cox now have the perfect opportunity to start changing the world – through the Bright Spark Awards.

But it’s not just wannabe astronauts or particle physicists who can join in. Any budding young scientists, engineers, tech whizzes, and mathematicians are invited to enter a science or technology project into the competition - and the overall champions will win £500 between them.

Previous entries have included a GPS-tracker shoe, a filter to make water in developing countries drinkable, and a first aid drone to be dispatched from hospitals to people who were injured. Other entrants investigated whether classical music helps short-term memory and whether being out in nature lowers people’s stress levels.

The competition is open to both primary and secondary pupils and there are three categories: innovation, invention, and investigation. The idea is for a team of pupils to work together, but youngsters can enter on their own.

And if they have too many bright ideas to choose between, they needn’t worry - teams can submit as many entries as they like, as each will be judged separately.

Those shortlisted will be invited to the Dragons’ Den-style final, at which they will be quizzed about their work by a panel of judges. Each team will be filmed beforehand to showcase their work, and these videos will be screened at the final before each team takes to the stage to talk about their project.

The judges will then put their heads together and pick category winners - who will receive prizes and trophies - as well as an overall winner.

The Bright Spark Awards are run by the KM Charity Team and supported by Pfizer, Golding Homes, Megger, Global Associates, Discovery Park, Benenden Hospital, BAE Systems, and Astro Communications, all of whom will be on the judging panel this year.

Sarah Leipnik, community development advisor at Golding Homes, explained: “The competition is designed to raise the aspirations of students and encourage them to pursue careers in science and maths.”

For Robert Crook, senior director at Pfizer, and Chris Strange, head of sales at Global Associates, the awards offer the chance to discover and encourage talented pupils to follow their dreams in their chosen field.

“We’re looking forward to seeing some fantastic entries from all the schools, and are really excited to see where schools are going to go this year,” Mr Crook said. “We are really looking to bring forward the scientists of the future.”

Mr Strange added: “As an engineering-led business, we are very keen to encourage the next generation of engineers to come through – so we think this is a very important awards event.”

Martin Heritage, engineering programme manager at Megger, went even further, saying that the awards could be the beginning of a successful career.

“It’s a great opportunity to look at all this young talent – if we see something that’s very good, we can offer an apprenticeship,” he said.

Entries needn't be brand new projects designed specifically for the competition. They can be projects undertaken for coursework, at a school's science club, or even projects from a previous year at school which have been revisited and undergone further development.

The deadline for schools or groups of pupils to submit entries is noon on Friday, June 1.

For more information, or to enter, visit www.kmcharityteam.co.uk and click ‘education’ or click this link HERE. For enquiries, contact event organiser Maxine Tarquini at mtarquini@thekmgroup.co.uk or on 0844 264 0291.