Young people across Northern Ireland have showcased a bright future for engineering in the region during the 2022 Energy Innovation Challenge.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering announced the winners of the challenge.

As part of NI Apprenticeship Week, Council worked with the Royal Academy of Engineering to bring the Energy Innovation Challenge to local schools whilst promoting the varied career paths available in manufacturing and engineering.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor William McCaughey, said: "Young people were encouraged to explore ideas that could help improve the lives of people in our community with participants given the chance to win prizes for their school.

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"The winning innovations demonstrated an awareness of the environment and solutions that could benefit the lives and wellbeing of people around the world."

The competition was open to primary and secondary schools across the borough with Taylor Stewart, Stewart Hickey and Caoimhe Loughran from Ballymena Academy being named winners in the secondary category with the pupils of P4 and P5 at Seaview Integrated Primary School, Glenarm winning the primary category.

The Mayor continued: "This challenge was a fantastic opportunity for young innovators to get their thinking caps on and come up with ideas and solutions that could benefit us all. It was also a perfect opportunity for us to highlight the importance of apprenticeships and innovation whilst promoting the careers of the future and local opportunities."

Gillian Gregg, Senior Business Development Manager Northern Ireland, Royal Academy of Engineering, added: "Through their innovations all of the applicants demonstrated wonderful commitment to engineering and building a sustainable future for everyone. It's really encouraging to see such creativity as we work together to help build the next generation of engineering skills, essential to meet regional needs."