Teen
Read about the winners and finalists of the Teen category of Enterprising Young Brits 2006.
Category winner: Tanya Budd
Tanya Budd, now 18, designed the HypoHoist man overboard recovery system, in 2005 as part of her ‘A’ level project. Hypo Hoist is designed to recover an unconscious person from the water and back to the safety of the vessel whilst minimising injury. Tanya was rewarded for her efforts by winning ‘Young Engineer for Britain’ and the product is now on sale directly through SeaSafe systems, a leading supplier of marine safety products. Read more of Tanya's inspiring story
Sixteen year old Sam Stern is currently studying for his A-levels and has already launched two acclaimed cookbooks aimed at teenagers. He approached Walker Books with his idea when he was just 14 and his first book, Cooking Up a Storm (2005), sold over 300,000 copies worldwide and was greeted with critical success across the globe – including UK chef Jamie Oliver. Sam’s second book Real Food, Real Fast was also a huge success, and showed that fast food for busy teenagers doesn’t have to be junk food. With two more books planned, plus talks underway to present his own show, Sam has become an impressive spokesman raising awareness of healthy eating and helping make cooking cool and accessible to a younger generation.
Ruth Amos, 16, began exploring her idea for StairSteady during a school GCSE project last year. Her design uses resistant materials to create a device that helps less able people to ascend and descend stairs without using a stair lift. The StairSteady is a banister with a supporting rail attached to it that slides when pushed but locks when weight is applied. Ruth worked her design ideas through with her teacher and then with a local engineering firm and she soon applied for a patent. The StairSteady has been installed on a trial basis in a house where it is used by a 94 year old lady and her daughter. Ruth recently won “Young Engineer for Britain 2006” with her design along with two other prizes, ‘Design most likely to benefit the disabled’ and ‘Design most likely to benefit the community’. Read more of Ruth's inspiring story
Fifteen-year old Dean Rhodes Brandon, who is deaf, set up yourlocalcinema.com to help the 5 million people in the UK with hearing or visual impairments enjoy going to the cinema. The website provides information about cinemas that have subtitled and audio described (narrated) shows, and campaigns for the number of cinemas to provide this facility to be increased. Dean works with the main disability organisations, technology companies and the UK film and cinema industries tirelessly to ensure accessible cinema is high on the agenda.
Seventeen-year old Lotty Cunningham set up dance and drama company, Streetz Ahead after noticing that there were very few activities in her local area for young people to take part in during their free time. She has seen class numbers increase from six people to 170 and has received funding from UnLtd and Big Boost. The group is performing at Disneyland Paris in 2007.