A team of bright sparks from Canterbury Academy have received their VIP experience prize after making it to the finals of a Kent-wide science competition in July.

The students had impressed the KM Bright Spark Awards 2015 judges with a data analysis project on the biodiversity of the Academy’s playing fields.

They were rewarded with a VIP tour of construction projects from concept to reality. Their visit took in the offices of Lee Evans Partnership and Lloyd Bore Landscape Architecture and Ecology, topped off with a site visit at the University of Kent hosted by Willmott Dixon.

Chantal Rozard, business manager at Betteridge and Milsom which donated the prize, said: “Our involvement with the KM Bright Spark Awards has been an enjoyable and innovative experience, and it was a great pleasure to give the future of today an insight into the construction industry.”

She added: “It was a great opportunity for the students to see how the different parties are involved from inception to completion.”

The KM Bright Spark Awards 2016 are now open for entry. Pupils across the county are invited to submit collaborative projects using cross-curricular skills in maths, IT, science and engineering to investigate, innovate and invent.

The top initiatives will compete at a Dragons’ Den style event on July 1, 2016 at Discovery Park in a bid to win trophies, certificates and unique experience prizes.

All finalists will be filmed in advance at school to present their science projects and each group’s video will be screened at the awards event before the pupils take to the stage and answer questions from a panel of dragons.

To find out more, or to enter, visit www.kmcharityteam.co.uk or click here.

• Businesses interested in supporting the 2016 event and becoming a dragon should contact Simon Dolby on 07989 164 752 or at sdolby@thekmgroup.co.uk.