I spent a long, but enjoyable, day on Wednesday helping to judge the Classic STEP Awards for students placed within businesses across the Highlands & Islands.
In total, 34 students had been working within businesses, carrying out vital projects for their hosts and making a real and considerable difference to their employers in addition to developing their own professional and personal skills,
Ranging from cutting edge sustainable energy projects through to lifeline social enterprises, it was a real struggle to come up with a winner from such diverse and high-quality submissions, but here are the results:
Winner: Kirsty Gordon, ABSL Power Solutions, Thurso, Product development project
2nd place John Watt, Inspiralba, Campbeltown, Social enterprise consultancy and support project
Runners-up were:
Rachel Thomas, Cocoa Mountain, Durness, Social networking marketing project
Ewan Murray,Ice Factor, Kinlochleven, Sustainable energy research project
Yva Yorston, HISEZ, Inverness , Online sales feasibility study
Andrea Howard, Rag, Tag n Textiles, Balmacara, Textile design and product development project
Congratulations to Ruth Sime (Highlands & Islands Enterprise) and Karen Darke (Inspire & Impact) for bringing the whole programme together.
For more details about STEP follow this link or contact Karen Darke at Inspire & Impact
