Shropshire student takes home third at national design competition

Matthew Burton, a pupil at The Corbet School in Baschurch, spent months working on his exciting military style amplifier which impressed judges at the national competition held by the Manufacturing Technology Association.

The year 11 student reached the finals along with only five others aged 14 to 16, before being crowned third place overall for the category.

The amplifier was designed to use with MP3 players but in the visual style of a military radio, a twist that gave Matthew the edge over other students.

Having reached the finals, Matthew was able to tour the Yamazaki Mazak European Headquarters in Worcester, where the final judging day was held.

He said: "Mazak was a very interesting place to visit and inspirational in terms of a future career."

Winners were awarded with prizes including from iPads, Amazon Kindles and graphics tablets, with each of the finalists taking home a Raspberry Pi computer board programming kit.

Howard Bamforth, chair of the judging panel, said: "The panel was impressed with the high calibre of this year's finalists and the range of different technologies they used.

"That made judging this year particularly difficult.

"Congratulations to all the finalists and their schools."

Other entries by students included a hand-held stabiliser for filming on mobile phones, a mirror that can display information on a built in screen and a lighting system built into a rucksack, to improve visibility of cyclists at night.