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Honour for talented young website designers

Students from Macmillan Academy in Middlesbrough had designs on a £1,000 prize by creating an educational website.

The University’s School of Computing launched WebComp08 to challenge Year 12 and 13 students (aged 16 to 18) to create innovative website designs. The theme of the competition was Improving Education, with students required to include a lesson or a learning aid on their website. Websites entered into the competition were judged on quality and originality.

£1,000 prize A £1,000 prize was on offer for the winning team, with the design by the Macmillan Academy students taking the title as WebComp08 victors.

Their winning website is based on the concept of networking for the over-16s and includes teaching theory and interactive quizzes to test the user’s knowledge.

Adrian King, who teaches Information Technology at Macmillan Academy and is the school’s web site developer, said: ‘It was hectic for the team as they completed the project in their own time, staying back after school, sometimes quite late, to get it finished on time. I’m really, really proud of them, to fit this extra work in at a very busy time in their studies was superb.’

One of the team of four, Craig Thompson, 18, from Middlesbrough, said: ‘I’m ecstatic with the £250 prize money, it’s going towards my summer holiday in Spain. I’ve been working on web design for about a year and taking part in the competition will be good for my portfolio.’ 

A professional approach Professor Alan Clements, from the School of Computing, who was one of the competition judges, said a main aim of the competition was to offer students an insight into work they may do at university, such as team-based problem solving.

He said: ‘The standard of the entries was good, but Macmillan won as their entry was both innovative and complete. They took a professional approach to and covered all aspects of the design and implementation.   ‘I would like to thank all those who took part in the competition, from the teams and their faculty advisors to the judges in the School of Computing.’

The competition, sponsored by software company Microsoft, was open to teams across Tees Valley, Tyne and Wear, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

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