CENTURY celebrates student Changemakers at the House of Lords

In the Autumn of 2024, the UK award-winning AI edtech company, CENTURY, launched the Changemakers Competition in partnership with Dan Fitzpatrick, the AI Educator. The aim of the competition was to inspire young people to develop their entrepreneurial skills by designing an app to solve one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Submissions came in from across the globe and a range of year groups, showcasing students’ commitment to using technology in order to make a tangible difference in the world. 

To celebrate the students’ ingenuity and the quality of their submissions, CENTURY organised a special prizegiving event at the House of Lords, hosted by Baroness Floella Benjamin. The event was a chance to recognise the inspiring submissions and was attended by winning and shortlisted students, as well as their teachers from across the UK. 

Event guest speakers

The event was kicked off by Baroness Benjamin who shared her amazing story, from her birth in Trinidad to becoming the first Black woman Chancellor of a UK university in 2006. 

She also shared her philosophy of the 3Cs:

• Consideration – have empathy and put yourselves in the place of others
• Contentment – not to be consumed by consumerism and to resist temptation
• Confidence – look in the mirror and like the person looking back at you
• All of the above wrapped up in courage – the moral courage to stand up and act with integrity. 

Caption: Key Stage 2 winner of the CENTURY Changemakers competition

The message of how to make a difference to the world chimed with CENTURY’s Founder and CEO Priya’s speech. She spoke about her journey to success which has balanced always striving to change the world and work for the betterment of others. She went on to speak about the challenges of ensuring the skills of innovation and entrepreneurship are taught in schools; something to which the competition hopes to have contributed.  

Caption: Most inspiring winner of the CENTURY Changemakers competition

Finally, Priya encouraged the students to take their app designs to the next level, whether on a school, community or global level. The winning app ideas awarded at the event included:

• KS2 winner – tackling SDG Climate Action: an online shop with a proportion of the proceeds going to ClientEarth.
• KS4 winner – tackling SDG Responsible Consumption and Production: a platform to shop for second-hand clothes that provides upcycling and sustainable clothing ideas and helps users donate any unwanted or second-hand clothes.
• KS5 winner – tackling SDG No Poverty: a game set in a food bank creating care packages. Users receive feedback on their performance with the chance to win prizes. Other features include facts, quizzes and the chance to express the effects of poverty.
• Most Innovative – tackling SDG Clean Water & Sanitation: a tool that detects contamination levels in drinking water and suggests ways to clean it.
• Most Inspiring – tackling SDGs Climate Action & Responsible Consumption and Production: a local community app offering ways for people to contribute to tasks such as litter picking, tree planting, mental health walks and group gatherings.

Caption: Key Stage 4 winner of the CENTURY Changemakers competition

Last to speak was Dan Fitzpatrick who talked about his latest book, focussing on the benefits of adopting an entrepreneur mindset and using this to identify problems and find solutions in all walks of life. 

It was an inspiring and joyful day that will hopefully stay with the students for a long time, encouraging them to continue to make a difference in the world. 

Read about The Derby High School’s visit to London for the prizegiving here. For more information about CENTURY and how our AI-powered teaching and learning platform is changing education, book a demo here.