The Atherton Award recognises girls who show entrepreneurial thinking in a STEM discipline. The award is run by Amber Atherton, British entrepreneur and investor. Amber has been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 and was previously Head of Strategic Communities at Discord and CEO of software start-up Zyper. She is passionate about incentivising more young women in the UK to pursue entrepreneurial or STEM careers.

Students were invited to submit an application which demonstrates their initiative in starting and completing a STEM project. They were asked to share their achievement, the challenges they faced, what they have learned and how they plan to develop their idea.

The winners from each school receive a trophy, £500 to support the next phase of their journey and a day of mentoring with a tech entrepreneur.

Estelle and Megan’s Atherton Award entry was a programme to introduce students to different engineering disciplines. They were motivated by the fact that engineering remains a largely male-dominated industry and it can be challenging for girls and women to access the same career opportunities that men can.

The engineering programme that Estelle and Megan have designed will run as a lunchtime club and would feature a series of small projects where students will learn and develop basic engineering skills that are fundamental for a career in the industry. At the end of the programme, students would have gained an understanding of engineering principles, skills and applications through the completion of small projects.

The Sixth Formers were commended for their application by Amber Atherton, who commented:

“I am delighted to recognize Megan Andrews and Estelle Widdows as this year’s Atherton Award winners for their school lunchtime club to encourage girls to get into engineering and teach them some fundamentals. They envision scaling across the GDST and partnering with engineering firms. With this start-up capital and in our mentoring sessions, I’m excited to see it grow!

Congratulations Megan and Estelle, and congratulations to everyone who entered. Norwich High girls have entrepreneurial spirit in bucket loads and I can’t wait to watch, and maybe one day invest, in the incredible businesses you might build!”