A former Year 6 pupil from Hatherop Castle School , Gloucestershire, has scooped the first prize in our National Exploring Science Competition.

The winning entry, entitled Crazy Camouflage, was produced by 11-year-old Louisa, and beat a whole host of entries from 9-14 year-olds across the country. Louisa won a digital camera for herself and her teacher, plus a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard, and five laptop computers for Hatherop Castle school!

The competition was launched at the ASE annual conference, in January 2004 to tie in with the publication of new materials from our best-selling Exploring Science course from Key Stages 2 and 3.

Thecompetition asked school teams of up to four pupils to carry out one of the Exploring Science QCA-matched investigations provided on the www.exploringscience.co.uk.

Each entry was examined by a panel of expert judges, including TV presenters and Scientists Adam Hart-Davis and Mark Levesley (also Series Editor of Exploring Science), Exploring Science author Penny Johnson, and Chief Executive of the Association for Science Education Derek Bell, who will be presenting the prizes to the children.

The prize award ceremony takes place from 11am on Thursday 14th October 2004 at Pearson, 80 Strand , London , with champagne and a buffet lunch on the 10 th floor conference suite overlooking the Thames river.The winner and runners-up will then move on to the London IMAX theatre in Waterloo to see a BFI sponsored visit to see Space Station 3D .

The three regional runners-up are from Saint Andrews RC School in Glasgow , Harris Middle School in Lowestoft and Walthamstow Hall School in Sevenoaks. Each member of these teams, including their teacher, also won a digital camera plus a laptop for their school.Every pupil that entered the competition received a certificate.

Try the investigations with your pupils!

The investigations can still be accessed and downloaded for you to use in your lessons or Science clubs. We’d love to hear about your experiences of using these projects. You can tell us more by emailing competition@exploringscience.co.uk.