The winners of the Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal Award, a collaboration between Primary Engineer and the MacRobert Trust, with support from WEIR and Christopher Ward, were recently recognised at a ceremonyat Drapers’ Hall in London.
The event as the forerunner to the illustrious MacRobert Award, the leading prize for engineering innovation in the UK. Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal is designed to celebrate the achievements of the school pupils, students and young engineers who have all worked together to create innovative and world-changing prototypes based on a school pupil’s engineering idea.
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The Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal, which is now in its fourth year, is part of the wider ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ annual STEM competition, run by Primary Engineer. UK school pupils aged 3-19 are tasked with interviewing an engineer, before being asked to identify a problem in the world around them and coming up with a creative, engineered solution to that problem. All entries are read and graded by professional engineers, with every pupil who takes part receiving a named and graded certificate. The free competition then culminates in regional public exhibitions and award ceremonies, where shortlisted designs are displayed, and the winners and highly commended are invited on stage to receive their awards.
Each year, Primary Engineer’s university and industry partners choose from thousands of shortlisted entries submitted by pupils across the UK, choosing one to prototype and take it from paper to reality in a journey of pure innovation. The ‘ProtoTeams’ who build the prototypes have to do so alongside the pupil who came up with the idea, and it’s the ProtoTeam, pupil and school that were presented with the awards at the ceremony in November.
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In total, nine ProtoTeams were recognised for their achievement with Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals, which was decided by a judging panel comprised of senior figures from industry, education and government.
‘It is a profound honour to host the 2025 Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal at Drapers Hall in London and celebrate the ingenuity of these prototypes, which have gone on a journey over the last 12 months, going from paper to reality,’ said Susan Scurlock MBE, founder and chief executive of Primary Engineer. ‘Each one is unique, but they all demonstrate tangible real-world impact and the power of helping people, be that individuals or entire communities.’
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The event saw school pupils, early-years engineers and students come together to celebrate with senior professionals from industry, education and government. Professor Helen James OBE, member of the Primary Engineer Advisory Board, Paul Wright, merchandising and supply chain director at Christopher Ward, and Elisabeth Scott, trustee of the MacRobert Trust, all took to the stage to say a few words and help congratulate the winners.
This year also saw the Commendation Award return, with the ‘I CAN Swing’ taking home the prize. It highlighted that the general public can be inspired by the thoughtfulness and innovation of young people’s ideas.
Details of the winners can be found here.