Derry student win awards in national STEM competition
‘Being selected as the winner for The Accenture Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence from such a competitive shortlist is truly impressive’
A student from Derry’s Lumen Christi College has scooped an award in The Big Bang Competition, a prestigious competition for young engineers, scientists and technologists.
Year 13 pupil Mykyta Telychko, won the Accenture Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence with their project: ‘AI sign language learning platform’.
They developed an AI-powered platform that helps people learn sign language by giving real-time feedback through a camera.
Inspired by the challenges people learning sign language face without guidance, their platform shows users exactly how to improve their signs, making learning more inclusive.
Harriet Side, engineering consulting manager at Accenture said: “Being selected as the winner for The Accenture Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence from such a competitive shortlist is truly impressive.
“Mykyta should be very proud of themself, their creativity, hard work, want to make a difference and determination have really paid off,” she added.
“This is a remarkable accomplishment and a great sign of the exciting things ahead. Well done.
“We sponsor this award because we believe in the power of young people’s ideas. We believe that supporting students to get involved in STEM and especially in exciting areas like AI, helps build confidence, creativity, and the skills they’ll use to make a real difference in the future,” said Ms Side.
Daniel Brownlee and Luke Johnston, year 11 students Cookstown High School were crowned the UK Young Technologists of the Year, supported by Siemens, for their project: ‘TrailTalk: AI-powered experience mapping’.
The team created an app to help travellers find experiences that match how they want to feel, instead of prioritising popularity and ratings as existing platforms do.
The talented duo built TrailTalk using AI, voice input and GPS data to help people discover places that meet both their practical and emotional needs.
‘This is a remarkable accomplishment and a great sign of the exciting things ahead. Well done’
They hope their invention will help travellers discover meaningful, authentic and personal places, while also promoting sustainable travel and benefitting communities not in typical tourist hotspots.
At the awards ceremony Daniel from the team commented: “It means alot - it's been two years of hard work coming into this. It's lovely to see it get recognised in this way. It's been an amazing event to be a part of and to win an award at.”
Mark Wood, Social Sustainability Lead at Siemens GB&I, commented: “Many congratulations to Luke and Daniel from TrailTalk, two very deserving winners. Their concept is commercially viable and offers a practical solution to an everyday need, with a strong focus on user-friendly design and clear technical capability demonstrated through the development of the app.
“Projects like TrailTalk highlight the imagination and talent that the next generation brings to STEM, boosted by new and developing technologies. Through initiatives such as The Big Bang Competition, young people are encouraged to channel their creativity into solving real-world challenges. And with individuals like Luke and Daniel leading the way, the future is in very capable hands,” said mr Wood.
Ananyaa Rahate, a year 13 student from Ambition Network NI, won the Senior Science award with their project ‘Bio-assisted micro-combustion: using soybean chemiluminescence to modulate ignition and investigating if this can lead to a more sustainable fuel source’.
This explored whether energy from natural light emissions from soybeans could be used as a sustainable fuel source for aviation. Passionate about whether nature could offer solutions to reduce aviation emissions, their final design focuses on improving fuel production and efficiency in a more practical, sustainable way.
The winners of The Competition, which recognises and rewards talented young innovators, were announced at an awards ceremony at The Big Bang Fair.
The Fair is the Britain’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people held at Birmingham’s NEC over June 9 to June 11.
Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK who run The Competition and The Fair said: “Massive congratulations to Daniel, Luke, Ananyaa and Mykyta.
“Their curiosity and creativity have driven them to produce some brilliant STEM projects addressing some really big societal problems.
“They should all be very proud of their dedication and hard work. Competitions like The Big Bang Competition help young people connect their passions with making a real-world difference, it shows young people a future in engineering and technology is possible for them,” said Dr Leevers.
To find out more and discover all the winners and runners-up of The Big Bang Competition 2026 visit: www.thebigbang.org.uk/competition-winners
To find out more about The Big Bang Fair, which is running at Birmingham’s NEC from 9 June to 11 June 2026, visit: www.thebigbang.org.uk/fair