The deadline for science competition the Bright Spark Awards has been extended until June 14, giving schools more time to submit entries highlighting the exciting work their pupils do.

The competition offers a great opportunity to show off work pupils may have prepared for exams or other competitions.

And the prizes include £500 for the overall winners, as well as money-can’t-buy experience days with the competition judging organisations.

The awards encourage teams of pupils to use cross-curricular skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects in practical projects.

Shortlisted teams will present their work to a panel of judges at a Dragons’ Den-style awards ceremony at Discovery Park in Sandwich.

The judges include Sittingbourne-based technology and engineering firm Global Associates, who are keen to stress that the competition is not just for pupils who might be identified as science prodigies.

Global Associates design engineer Gary Smith said: “We think the competition is a fantastic opportunity for students to explore innovative, creative ways to get into Stem subjects.

“It’s particularly important to us because we’re an engineering company.

“We recognise and we see that there’s a skills gap in the future of engineering, and we want students to unlock any potential that maybe they didn’t even realise they had.”

The awards are open to primary and secondary schools, and have three categories: innovation, investigation and invention.

Entries already submitted for this year’s competition include a solar-power renewable energy project and a prototype for a forest-fire early-warning system.

Besides Global Associates, the judges are Atkins Global, Megger, the ITL Group, EduKit, Highways England, Pfizer, Kent Renewable Energy, Golding Vision, BAE Systems and Discovery Park.

To enter, schools need to register details of their projects online before noon on June 14.

And watch a video in which Gary Smith talks about the awards here: