Previous PA Raspberry Pi Competition award winners

Our annual PA Raspberry Pi Competition promotes STEM education by challenging schoolchildren to invent systems that could benefit society using their engineering and coding skills. 

Here's a look back at the ingenious projects that have won the competition in past years. 

2022: Innovations to save the planet

For our tenth anniversary, we put the year's theme to a public vote, asking teachers, students and our partners what they think would be most inspiring. And they chose: innovations to save the planet.

As the UN shares a bleak outlook on climate change, the need to act quickly on sustainability has never been more apparent. So, for the 2022 PA Raspberry Pi Competition, we challenged 8- to 18-year-olds to design technology that would help make the world a more sustainable place.

The winners of 2022's competition were:

Years 4-6: Raspberry Turtles from King Edward’s Junior School, Bath
Recycling stations which help to inform, educate and raise awareness about environmental issues
Years 7-9: Project Polar Bear from Belhaven Hill School, Dunbar
An automatic bin opener that sorts different rubbish using AI
Years 10-11: The E-consumer team from Richard Hale School, Hertford
A project to reduce the volume of greenhouse gases released into our atmosphere every year by the transportation of food
Years 12-13: Team Tera from King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford
A robot that that helps the user make smart environmental choices when irrigating on farmland
People’s Choice Award: Team Tera, King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford
An environmental farmland robot
PA Raspberry Pi 2022 Awards Day

2021: Creating a positive human future for everyone

For the ninth competition, we challenged 8- to 18-year-olds to design technology to help create a positive future for everyone as we come out of an unprecedented period of uncertainty.

COVID-19 has been a once-in-a-generation challenge, but we’ve seen inspiring examples of where it’s catalysed the best of humanity and unlocked our inherent ingenuity. So, we asked the teams to imagine a world where we can:

  • Develop a cleaner, most sustainable world
  • Be better prepared for the unexpected
  • Interact safely and effectively, whether at work, study or leisure
  • Support the health and wellbeing of everyone
  • Get urgent supplies into the hands of those who need them most.

The winners of 2021's competition were:

Years 4-6: St Mary's CE Primary School
An intelligent cane that communicates with other devices to inform blind, partially sighted or deaf-blind people of nearby hazards
Years 7-9: Priestnall School
A gadget to monitor indoor air pollution and reduce the health risk
Years 10-11: Colchester County High School for Girls
An AI-powered automatic feeder designed to support endangered species by providing food to specific animals
Years 12-13: Westminster School and Harris Westminster Sixth Form
A new type of security – a dynamic ‘footprint’ – that prevents possession theft
People’s Choice Award: Steeple Bumpstead School
A monitoring system for beehive temperature and humidity
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2021

2020: Designing the sustainable city of the future

Entrants to the 2020 competition were tasked to use their ingenuity to create a positive human future by designing the ‘sustainable city of the future’. Teams were asked to imagine a world where, for example, habitats are protected, travel is simple and pollution free or food is sustainably sourced with minimal waste.

The winners of 2020's competition were:

Years 4-6: St Mary’s School, Horsham
Encouraging sustainable behaviours in school
Years 7-9: Reading School
Protecting the environment by monitoring air quality
Years 10-11: Longridge Towers School
Designing object recognition to reduce food waste
Years 12-13: Dame Alice Owen’s School
Detecting pollution levels across a city
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2020

2019: Transforming experiences of travel and transport

Entrants to the 2019 competition were tasked to think innovatively, inspire change and use their ingenuity to transform experiences of travel and transport.

The winners of 2019's competition were:

Years 4-6: St Mary’s School, Horsham
The 'Park and Stride' invention uses technology to encourage children and parents to walk to school instead of parking outside the school gates
Years 7-9: Lady Eleanor Holles School, London
A product that makes children's car seats safer by issuing an alert when they become unclipped, helping keep children safer
Years 10-11: Westminster School, London
The product allows cyclists to navigate safely around busy urban areas by displaying route directions and other data on a pair of cycling gloves that light up to show arrows or other actions
Years 12-13: Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn, Carmarthenshire
A system to reduce the waiting time for drivers at traffic lights, especially temporary ones at roadworks
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2019

2018

This year, we challenged school children and college students to use the credit-card-sized, highly capable Raspberry Pi computer to produce innovations to help save the planet.

The winners of 2018's competition were:

Years 4-6: Ysgol Deganwy, Conwy
An interactive rubbish bin that uses a barcode scanner to scan barcodes on waste packaging and then display useful information on a screen above the bin compartments
Years 7-11: Kenilworth School
A system of infrared beams which work together to identify when no-one is nearby, and switch off the unnecessary streetlights in the area
Years 12-13: The College of Richard Collyer
A simple, portable and lightweight charger that makes use of two renewable energies (wind and solar power) to charge four rechargeable AA batteries
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2018

2017

The winners of 2017's competition were:

Years 4-6: St Mary's Primary School, Horsham
A door entry system, paired with a wearable, to help deafblind people identify visitors to their residence
Years 7-11: Haileybury School and College
A monitoring tool for carers of the elderly to address risks of an unattended falls
Years 12-13: King Edward VI Grammar School
A learning game to assist and support those with Attention-Deficit Disorders and Dyslexia
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2017

2016

The winners of 2016's competition were:

Years 4-6: Egglescliffe CE Primary School
A competitive game called Colour Smash, which tests and improves people's reflexes and reaction speeds
Years 7-11: Wick High School
A robot to improve the spectator experience at rugby games
Years 12-13: Highgate School
A device to record race times and capture photo finishes in an accurate and cost-effective way
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2016

2015

The winners of 2015's competition were:

Years 4-6: William Law CE Primary School
A robot dog that aims to encourage children to exercise
Years 7-9: The Liverpool Blue Coat School
An automatic prescription dispenser that works using QR codes given to patients by their doctors
Years 12-13: Truro and Penwith College
An innovative way to control your computer by using a camera to track your eye movement and relaying this to your computer screen
PA’s Young Entrepreneur Award (Undergraduate): University of Birmingham
A wireless, internet-connected doorbell that can call your phone, text you, email you a photo, tweet you or live stream video
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2015

2014

The winners of 2014's competition were:

Years 4-6: St Mary’s CE Primary School
A robot that helps children with household recycling
Years 7-11: Frome Community College
A system that allows you to care for the plants in your garden, looking after your own environment
Years 12-13: Newcastle College - Digital Skills Academy
Undergraduates: University of Exeter
A system that allows drivers to locate empty car park spaces in cities and towns
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2014

2013

The winners of 2013's competition were:

Years 4-6: The Richard Pate School
A system to help elderly or disabled people answer the door, especially people who have difficulty walking or who walk slowly
Years 7-11: Dalriada School
An automated pill dispenser makes managing medicine easier: correct dosages drop out at the specified times
Years 12-13: Westminster School
A weather surveillance device that allows you to use the Raspberry Pi to monitor air quality
Open category: UNOP
A system that enables home owners to monitor the electricity consumption of their home
PA Raspberry Pi Competition 2013

Explore the rest of the competition

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