Competition encourages young women to become engineers

The contest, open to all women under the age of 25, will be officially launched at the end of January and run throughout Spring 2012.

According to Lola, entrants will be required to produce an original design for a product that is compatible across the company’s portfolio of technologies in aerospace, defence, communications, renewables, motorsport and automotive industries.

A panel of expert judges will assess every entry and narrow the field down to a shortlist of 10, culminating in an awards ceremony attended by leading British engineers and government ministers.

The winner, who will have demonstrated an outstanding ability, imagination and passion for engineering, will receive a cheque, a trophy and the opportunity to develop and test their winning design at Lola’s facilities in Huntingdon.

Reversing preconceptions

Lola said in a statement that it launched this competition due to the lack of female engineers, which remains a barrier to tackling skills shortages in the wider UK manufacturing sector.