STUDENTS from Shipley College have been named People’s Champion at the Premier Farnell Technology Challenge.

Showcasing their Dementiaid concept, a product that uses facial recognition to inform a person with dementia if a visitor is known or safe, they fended off tough competition this week from ten other schools and colleges in the region, including , Bradford College and Hanson Academy.

The challenge asked schools and colleges from Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale and Wakefield to research, plan and create a working prototype of a piece of technology to meet the brief of helping someone with a physical or sensory impairment.

The award was judged by the other students taking part who voted for the prototype they felt was most impressive.

Student from Shipley College, Travis McCluskey, 17, said: “We are all very much into coding and we our lucky that our college has the facilities to support our interest in this area. When we were offered the chance to speak with a business that has 22,000 care homes we knew we had an idea that was worthy of the time and effort.

“Although we didn’t win the overall prize, we were the people’s champion and will continue to code. We are even thinking about crowd funding to support our project.”