AN 'OUTSTANDING' entry has earned Otley students victory in a major technology competition.

The Prince Henry's Grammar School Sixth Form team triumphed against ten other schools and colleges to win the Premier Farnell Technology Challenge.

The competition involved researching, designing and producing a working prototype of a piece of technology that could help someone with a physical or sensory impairment.

The Otley students - 16 year olds Will Brown, Daniel Glover and Louis Drimer and 17 year old Charlie Lyttle - created a pill dispenser for people with sight problems.

The team used using Raspberry Pi technology and coding to cope with the problem of there being so many different shapes and sizes of tablets.

That ensured that their dispenser would release the exact number of required pills when programmed by a user or carer.

Their entry was declared the overall winner at Aspire, Leeds, last Tuesday, December 5.

Prince Henry's team member Charlie said: “It was a close competition and we were so surprised when our name was read out as the overall winner.

"We are all very relieved as we have put so much work and effort into creating the prototype.

"This is something that we can celebrate now and talk about in the future."

Head of Prince Henry's Sixth Form, Claire Willis, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for our students and the product they created was imaginatively designed and produced.

"This sort of competition is a great opportunity for our students to work on real life products for the real world.

"We like to offer our Sixth Form students as broad a range of opportunities as we can, to allow them to develop their skills for life and this competition has shown that they certainly rise to the challenge."

The Premier Farnell Technology Challenge aims to encourage and help young people explore careers in the digital and technology industry, which is set to grow by 15 per cent in this region over the next decade.

SVP of Sales and Marketing for Premier Farnell, Ralf Buehler, said: “I am overwhelmed by the creativity, inspiration and enthusiasm that these students brought to the challenge.

"It was a difficult decision to make and we chose Prince Henry’s because their entry was outstanding across all areas, from careful consideration of the users’ needs and practical application of the device to potential marketing and an excellent overall presentation."

Organised with local social enterprise Ahead Partnership, the Technology Challenge was preceded by a series of competitions within individual schools and colleges to select the best concepts to go forward.