Congratulations to our winners!
Winners of The Atherton Award receive a trophy, certificate, investment, and mentoring time. You'll also get access to an international community of winners to collaborate with, alongside invitations to in person and virtual workshops.
Didn't win the award? That's ok. The entrepreneurial path is filled with rejection and people saying no to you. The secret is to get back up and try again. Whilst listening and learning is key to improving as a founder and leader, never let anyone tell you what you can't do. You are capable of anything you set your mind to, and with a little luck and the right timing, what started as a small idea in your bedroom could end up changing the world.
Class of 2026
| Name | School | Idea |
| Maria C | Le Sainte Union Catholic School | An innovative educational app designed to raise awareness about environmental issues and climate change by helping people understand how their daily choices affect the planet. The app offers practical tips for sustainable living and encourages community action to inspire positive change and protect the environment for future generations. |
| Katherine L | Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School | A modular waste heat recovery system designed for homes and schools that captures and reuses heat normally lost from appliances, lighting and ventilation. The system stores excess heat in thermal materials or insulated water tanks and releases it when needed to warm buildings, helping reduce energy costs, improve sustainability and provide an affordable way to lower heating bills while protecting the environment. |
| Carla H | LEH | The development of a universal hydration system for rowing athletes that adapts to different rowers and boat designs, improving access to hydration during training and competition. The system addresses a previously overlooked challenge by overcoming compatibility issues across a wide range of rowing boats while meeting the strict requirements of competitive rowing regulations. |
| Lucy A | Putney | Scholarly is an all-in-one platform designed to support UK students applying to US universities by simplifying a complex and fragmented process. The platform centralises key tasks such as SAT bookings, study resources, deadline tracking, calendars, and smart reminders, while also offering an AI-powered assistant for personalised support and a community space for collaboration and advice. Scholarly helps students stay organised, confident, and motivated throughout their university application journey. |
| Esha T | Northwood College for Girls | The development of a prototype smart medication reminder pill box designed to help users remember to take vitamins and medication on time. Built using self-taught coding and prototyping skills, the project combines a handmade pill box with a micro:bit programmed to display reminder messages at set intervals until acknowledged by the user, demonstrating both innovation and personal skill development. |
| Evelyn C | Marymount | The development of a mental health support app designed to help teens and adolescents feel seen, heard, and supported. Created as part of a high school entrepreneurship project, the app allows users to track emotions and triggers, connect with peers to reduce isolation and stigma, and access licensed mental health professionals for guidance and support. The project aims to make mental health resources more accessible while encouraging healing, connection, and open communication. |
| Daria V | Wimbledon | AspiRoo is a secure entrepreneurship platform designed to help children turn their business ideas into real ventures. Created to address the lack of funding, mentorship, and practical support available to young entrepreneurs, the platform enables pupils to pitch ideas, access crowdfunding, and receive expert consultancy in areas such as marketing, finance, IT, and design. By connecting students with supportive peers, parents, staff, and alumni, AspiRoo empowers young people to develop entrepreneurial skills and prepare for an AI-driven future. |
| Kaweng P | Croydon | The Observatory is an intellectual property commercialisation venture operating under Apsis Holdings, created to connect innovators with institutional investment opportunities. Through a specialised bridge programme, the venture supports innovators in protecting, scaling, and commercialising their intellectual property across sectors including life sciences, deep tech, advanced energy, and material sciences. The Observatory also develops commercialisation frameworks and valuation models through internal research and development projects, helping innovators secure investment and bring new technologies to market. |
| Terin L | Marlborough | DataLingual is a data analytics tool that maps language demographics across Los Angeles using U.S. Census Bureau data to identify communities with limited English proficiency. The platform also analyses factors such as poverty, internet access, and food insecurity, helping nonprofits and businesses make more informed decisions about outreach, resources, marketing, and services in linguistically diverse communities. Through ongoing research and client feedback, DataLingual aims to improve accessibility, communication, and community impact. |
| Ada B | Norwich | iSquash is a prototype AI-powered coaching app designed to make professional squash training more accessible and affordable for young players. Using a smartphone camera and integrated AI, the app analyses technique in real time and provides instant coaching feedback on movement, footwork, and positioning. Created by a nationally ranked England junior squash player, iSquash also includes features such as nutrition planning, performance analytics, mental training, and academic scheduling, helping athletes develop both on and off the court while connecting them with elite coaches worldwide. |
| Marina H | Benenden | ScentStickies is an innovative scent jewellery brand that replaces traditional perfume sprays with micro-encapsulated fragrance patches. Activated by body heat and contact, the hypoallergenic stickers release scent gradually, offering longer-lasting, more efficient fragrance without waste or reapplication. The product comes in two ranges: the subtle “Vanish Collection,” designed for a seamless, skin-tone finish, and the bold “Statement Collection,” created as expressive, fashion-forward scent accessories. Designed for convenience, inclusivity, and sensitive skin, ScentStickies aims to make fragrance both practical and a form of personal expression. |
| Shong Y | City of London School for Girls | Project Hexagon is an esports tournament organisation co-founded in 2024 that hosts international online competitions for the rhythm game osu!. It has grown rapidly, running multiple tournaments and scaling to over 1,400 participants in its largest event, the 6 Digit World Cup in 2025. The project also partnered with music label Yobimo to produce original music for the tournament, connecting esports with digital music production. |
| Vivienne Y | Wycombe Abbey | Vif, student-designed scent brand, and created *Arcadia’s Garden*, a plant-based study diffuser that helps teenagers improve focus and reduce study fatigue without relying on caffeine or energy drinks. Inspired by my own experience with caffeine intolerance, I developed the product from concept to launch and continue refining it based on customer feedback, including a new lower-cost portable version. |
| Annabelle D | Oxford | A product to protect elderly or vulnerable members of our society. This would be a slightly customizable (in appearance) air vest, one for inside one for outside. When the motion senser detects fast movement, which would be triggered by falling, it inflates the vest quickly to keep them safe. It protects the neck, back and pelvis/hip area specifically, to ensure maximum protection. The outdoor one could also have arm protection. |
| Jayani Ki & Alana H | Sheffield | We would like to be recognised for developing Jungle Diary, a child-friendly nutrition app that helps busy families make healthier food choices. Created from a child's perspective, the app features a food scanner that explains why foods are healthy or unhealthy, a meal planner, and a fun jungle-themed rewards system to make healthy eating simple, engaging, and educational. |
Class of 2025
| School name | Location | Winner | Winning project |
| Marlborough | USA | Audrey N | Product: Memory Lane, a digital memory book app designed to support seniors—particularly those experiencing memory loss, emotional distress, palliative care, or simply those living separately from their loved ones. Memory Lane will allow seniors and their loved ones to collaboratively preserve memories through photos, audio clips, videos, and personal messages. In developing her app app, Audrey is prioritizing simplicity and affordability to ensure it remains accessible to families of all backgrounds, including those who may not be as comfortable with technology. |
| Marymount | USA | Callie M | Service: Blueprint of an app called SafeRide that aims to ensure safer transportation on public services such as the MTA subways and buses. SafeRide would address the unfortunately all-too-often experience of feeling unsafe or even witnessing or being a part of an assault on public transport. |
| La Sainte Union | UK | Maria C | Product: An educational app that raises awareness of climate change |
| Belvedere | UK | Zahra A | Service: Set up a ghost writing business |
| LEH | UK | Josya A | Product: ElectroTrack. A revolutionary device which produces renewable energy by using railway tracks to change the way we power our railway transport. This will enable us to move towards a greener, more sustainable future to help us reach our net zero and zero-carbon goals. |
| Benenden | UK | Yezel and Vedika | Product: Created software that real-time fact checks AI to improve reliability and maintain a no-biased output for all users. This software will act as an attachment to already existing AI technology/service to ensure that all data and outputs the AI provides are factually correct. |
| Northwood College | UK | Eshaal H | Initiatives: Launching and managing two businesses before turning 15. At 13, Eshaal founded her first company, Code Cosmos Coding, to make coding fun and accessible for young learners. Later, she co-founded a second brand that sells stickers, keyrings, notebooks, and more, combining creativity with commerce. |
| Putney High School | UK | Alma and Anoushka | Product: A prototype for a product that aims to detect hidden cameras therefore protecting the privacy of the users. This was done by connecting a photo transistor and a LED light to pc board. When the photo transistor detects light, or a certain infrared radiation the LED will illuminate. |
| Henrietta Barnet School | UK | Maya M | Product: Protega — a sleek, wearable bracelet aimed at helping women feel safer when walking alone. Protega is equipped with two key emergency functions: an alarm feature, which emits a loud, siren-like noise to deter potential threats, and a location-sharing function, which instantly sends the wearer’s precise location to a trusted contact. Both functions are fully adjustable through the companion app, which Maya personally coded. |
| Wycombe Abbey | UK | Selin A | Service: Selin created a web design agency called CaspiStudio, aimed at middle-sized businesses in Azerbaijan. Having seen the large gap in digital proficiency between her home country versus the UK, Selin wanted to ease the process that businesses in Baku go through to get recognised online by making web design and servicing (e.g., SEO and finding domain names) accessible to companies with little to no current Internet exposure. |
| RSHM Network of Schools | International | Nicole F | Product: Touch Melody - a piano designed for blind musicians |
| City of London School for Girls | UK | Harriet C | Product: Henry’s Honey which sells honey and handmade beeswax products. This was initially set up as a way to sell the beeswax produced in Harriet's family’s beehives, but she decided to expand it by importing beeswax from other british beekeepers in order to create a line of beeswax products. |
| Croydon High School | UK | Isabelle C | Product: Specialist fast track computer which is 100% organic. |
Class of 2024
| School Name | Location | Winner | Winning Project |
| Benenden | UK | Imaan K. |
Initiative: who set up with her family a non-profit in India. Hosting a sporting event (to encourage young girls into sport and for all children to recognise sporting talents that are not usually applauded and celebrated.)
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| LEH | UK | Kiara P. | Product: for people with non-verbal autism to communicate how they are feeling. |
| Wycombe Abbey | UK | Sofia C. |
Product: coded an app (app store) teaching practical maths such as loan repayments, petrol pump prices, interest rates, stamp duty, and mortgage costs. Already has her first corporate client, Barking and Dagenham College.
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| Henrietta Barnet School | UK | Ria S. | STEM Skills: completed an accounting course and a python course |
| (New) Marymount NYC | USA | Brianna F. | Initiative: industrial design iterations for the New York public transport system to streamline services in rush hour all whilst improving revenue for the network. |
| (New) Marlborough LA | USA | Penelope P. | Initiative: Set up a by-the-minute tutoring service, running a two pilots with students from 22 colleges |
| City of London School for Girls | UK | Yunshu Y. | Initiative: Started a small stationary business. |
| Belvedere | UK | Rosie B. | Product: Started a jewellery and lash business whose promotional videos have gone viral (450k views) and ships all over the UK |
| RHS Bath | UK | Kay Y. |
Product: manufactured her own toys, with more than 500 orders shipped to Hong Kong, UK, USA, Taiwan, Singapore, Mainland China and Thailand and over 400 reviews. All this has brought in a profit of £2k.
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| Croydon High | UK | Riya S. |
Product: Designed a water-generating bottle that condenses water vapour into clean water, to ensure the basic human right of clean drinking water is met. Took two STEM courses with the Open University to learn about the engineering behind it.
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| Wimbledon High | UK | Sreemedha S. | Product: Set up a business selling candles, from which 50% of profits go to a charity in India. |
| Norwich High | UK | Megan A. & Estelle W. |
Initiative: Set up a lunchtime club at school to encourage girls to get into engineering and teach them some fundamentals. They envision scaling across the GDST and partnering with engineering firms.
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| Putney High | UK | Alisa V. | Product: Built a "find it" app, reuniting students with lost property, powered by near field communication technology. |
| (New) Sheffield | UK | Saba M. | Product: Built an app to improve the memory of those with dementia. Saba would like to use the funding to learn more about UX. |
| Howell's | UK | Daisy J. | Product: Coded an ML-powered website that optimizes energy usage in the home. |
| South Hampstead High School | UK | Scarlett M. |
Product: designed and coded an interactive satellite simulation to help physics students understand centripetal forces and the link between main body planet mass, satellite velocity and orbital radius.
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| Northwood | UK | Layla O. | Product: Built a game that detects users' carbon footprint and their actions affect the virtual world (creating virtual forest fires, poor harvests...) |
| Oxford High | UK | Anousha N. | Product: Developed a hybrid portable solar-powered water purification system. Compact and easily transportable, for remote or disaster-stricken areas, where clean water is hard to find. |
| (New) Le Sante Union Catholic School | UK | Klea N. | Product: Coded an app that advises people on skincare |
Class of 2023
| Rebecca T. | Wycombe Abbey | Designed a Product: Hardware prototype which recycles lost heat energy from fridges |
| Willow G. | Lady Eleanor Holles (LEH) | Designed a Product: Compostable shoe made from biopolymers |
| Saanvi D. | Henrietta Barnett | Improved STEM Skills: Completed MIT Entrepreneurship course |
| Sunniva K., Kara, Honor, Olivia, Georgia, Ella, Katie | Benenden | Designed a Product: Underwear company that achieved £2,000+ in profit |
| Anna W. | City of London School for Girls | Started a Business: Built a website teaching coding with 2,000+ users |
| Charlotte H. | Putney High | Started a Business: Sold ergonomically designed bag made from offcuts |
| Sri Akshata T. | Croydon High | Improved STEM Skills: Harvard CS50 Coding course |
| Cassia M. | Wimbledon High | Started a Business: Started a fashion brand upcycling fast fashion |
| Anusha U. | Norwich High | Started a Business: Coded a website to teach maths formulas in a fun virtual environment |
| Charlotte H. | Howell's | Improved STEM Skills: Learned Javascript and used it to create revision games |
| Mira B. | South Hampstead High | Started a Business: Built an AI tool to curate Youtube video results |
| Kadisha W. | Belvedere Academy | Started a Business: Created and sold a jewelry range |
| Sophie C. | Bath High | Started a Business: Started a refillery from home, to reduce neighbours' plastic packaging |
| Rhea C. | Northwood High | Started a Business: Created an e-marketplace for purchasing and exchanging second-hand school material |
| Jennifer Z. | Oxford High | Designed a Product: Iterations of a coaster that detects if a drink has been spiked |
Class of 2022
Benenden & Colchester High School for Girls
Class of 2021
Fara B., Benenden
Started a Non-Profit: STEM in Africa, which aims to encourage and galvanise more young African students, primarily females by, organising events, hosting speakers, sponsoring children and more. In 2020, they hosted a science fair for 70 disadvantaged children. Since winning the award, they've hosted a summer camp of masterclasses in Lagos for which they raised 5million Naira. Now they are building a science hub in Lagos from repurposed plastic bottles, for their students to be innovative and collaborate.