A Norwich High School for Girls student has been named a runner-up in the national Alexa Young Innovator Challenge – Amazon’s UK-wide AI coding contest – by designing a new horticultural Alexa Skills. Skills are like apps for Alexa, allowing you to use voice commands to perform everyday tasks like checking the news, listening to music, or playing a game.

Competition entries were picked by a judging panel including STEM advocate Carol Vorderman, computing prodigy Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, YouTuber and computer science graduate Tobi Brown, and Lauren Kisser, Amazon Technology Director and UK ambassador for Amazon Future Engineer.

Tabitha Schünmann from Year 10 created an Alexa Skill to help to simplify the upkeep of household plants with a daily reminder when to water them. Her idea saw her being named as a runner up in the 15-18 age group. She won a £250 Amazon voucher for herself, while taking home a £500 voucher for her school.

To enter the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge, students across the UK were invited to follow a free online learning programme with curriculum-linked lesson plans and resources, created by Amazon to support the development of AI learning in UK classrooms and STEM clubs. Computer science and AI related roles could contribute £71 billion a year to the UK economy to 2030, according to research commissioned by Amazon from Capital Economics, with demand for jobs that require computer science, AI or machine learning skills expected to increase by 40% over the next five years . In order to have enough AI talent in the UK workforce to fill these jobs, students need to experience some form of AI-based learning during secondary school.

“We were blown away by the innovation and imaginative thinking that was evident in many of the entries we received for the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge,” said Lauren Kisser, Technology Director at Amazon and UK Ambassador for Amazon Future Engineer. “The challenge forms part of our Amazon Future Engineer programme, designed to upskill young people in Artificial Intelligence and computer science, and inspire them to consider a career in STEM. If more young people like Tabitha play an active part imagining ways AI can be used to tackle social issues in their communities, just think of the good that technology could achieve in the future.”

Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon said: “The tech revolution never stops and we know that AI is going to be a vital part of the future of the industry so it’s great to see the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge identifying some amazing young people who are taking the first steps on this journey to be our future scientists and technologists.”

Women are still significantly underrepresented in engineering and technology in higher education. UCAS data on university application and acceptance figures for the 2021 cycle highlighted that women represent just 16% and 18% of accepted applications to computer science and engineering degrees respectively.