Redmond O’Hanlon wins prestigious Engineering award
THE BIG BANG COMPETITION WINNER ANNOUNCED
Redmond O’Hanlon a Year 13 student from St Colman’s College in Newry, Northern Ireland has been awarded the senior winners prize in the engineering category at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition, for his project titled ‘Quad Trough’.
The ‘Quad Trough’ is essentially a cattle feeding trough. As it’s name suggests it incorporates four semi cylindrical troughs and is fabricated from mild steel and polycarbonate. The products unique selling point is a clever folding system which allows it to be easily moved by hand and hitched to a Quad bike or farm vehicle for transport. Once towed into position the ‘QuadTrough‘ provides a robust Cattle feeding station measuring 0.5M by 4M approximately.
The products ability to fold reduces its footprint by 50%. This eases towing through narrow gates or openings. ’QuadTrough’ is easily cleaned using a power washer and when folded is easily stored.
Redmond reached the UK finals of The Competition having won a place in the Big Bang Fair Northern Ireland regional heats.
Over 300 young people from across the country were selected to be finalists of The Big Bang Competition, an annual contest designed to recognise and reward young people's achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), as well as helping them build skills and confidence in project-based work.
The finals usually take place at The Big Bang Fair each March but when that was cancelled in light of the coronavirus, the team at the Big Bang Fair asked finalists to submit a video presentation from which 50 STEM professionals with specialisms across a range of areas including astronomy, antimicrobials, health monitoring, underwater acoustics and toxicology identified the winners.
The pupils win £750 in prize money to continue on their STEM journey as well as a trophy and certificate.
The winners of GSK UK Young Engineer and GSK UK Young Scientist of the Year will be announced in early April.
Previous winners have gone on to enjoy a range of other achievements on the back of their successes – including winning international awards in China and the US, getting backing from businesses for their projects, and taking part in conference presentations to industry professionals as well as appearing on the television and radio shows to talk about their project.
Congratulating the winners, Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, which organises The Big Bang Competition, said:
“The judges have been blown away by the quality of entries from all the finalists – not only for their brilliant new ideas but for how eloquently they spoke about them in their videos that were submitted. We’ve also been really impressed with all of the students for their passion and resilience in taking part this year in spite of the hugely challenging circumstances, including some students being in self-isolation during the process. Huge congratulations to Redmond whose innovative project has seen them awarded as the senior winner in the engineering category of The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition.
Redmond reached the UK finals of The Competition having won a place in the Big Bang Fair Northern Ireland regional heats. Redmond attends the same school as a previous winner Colum McNally, a student who charmed the judges with his warmth and cheeky sense of humour when he won the title of UK Young Engineer of the Year in 2015 for his Agri-Hammer, a machine to help prevent farm accidents. After winning the prestigious award while at St Colman’s College, Colum went on to study engineering at university before losing his battle with cancer in late 2016. An award at The Big Bang Competition has since been created in memory and celebration of Colum called the ‘Cheeky Potato Award’.
About The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people in the UK. Taking place from 11-14 March 2020 at The NEC in Birmingham, The Big Bang Fair is an award-winning combination of exciting theatre shows, interactive workshops and exhibits and careers information from STEM professionals. Having grown from 6,500 visitors in its first year (2009) to 80,000 in 2019, The Big Bang Fair is made possible through the collaborative efforts of over 200 organisations.
School groups are invited to visit the first three days of The Big Bang Fair, which will also be open to the public on the Saturday. Young people will leave enlightened about how science and engineering feature in everything they wear, eat and do. A number of apprentices, graduate and experienced engineers and scientists will be on hand to quiz, providing young people with the opportunity to discover how science and maths can lead to a great career. The Big Bang Fair also hosts the finals of the prestigious Big Bang Competition.
In 2020, The Big Bang UK Young Scientist and Engineers Fair that was due to take place 11 to 14 March was cancelled. The advice around Covid-19 was monitored over several weeks and it was decided that due to the unique nature of The Big Bang Fair – an indoor, hands-on interactive event for tens of thousands of young people, their teachers and parents from across the UK – cancelling the Fair was the most appropriate decision to take at the time.
About The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition aims to recognise and reward young people's achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and provide them with the opportunity to build their skills and confidence in project-based work. It is open to 11-18 year olds from across the UK who have completed a project or activity in any field of science, technology, engineering or maths.
Young people can enter via regional heats that take place at a Big Bang Near Me fair or via the website. Online entries for The Big Bang Competition are open until 8 November 2019. Finalists present their work to visitors to The Fair and are judged over two days by an expert panel. Winners will be announced at an award ceremony on 12 March 2020.