At the start of the school year, six students were selected to take part in the prestigious Merchant Taylors' Livery Academy Awards. This competition, designed to nurture entrepreneurial and presentation skills among Sixth Form students, also aims to strengthen connections between Livery Company members and their associated state schools. The challenge was to pitch a product to investors, with the goal of raising up to £2,000,000.
The brief was that the product or business would:
- Promote or provide a benefit to their local community.
- Use new technology or find different ways of using existing technology.
- Either be entirely new or add an extra dimension to something that already exists.
Since September, our Wallingford team worked tirelessly to perfect our presentation. With the invaluable support of Ms. McGowan and our mentors, we honed our pitch over countless lunchtimes and after-school sessions. Finally, the big day arrived, and we travelled to Merchant Taylors’ Hall, London, to present our product.
The competition was fierce, with impressive presentations from all the schools involved: Foyle College, Northern Ireland; the all-girls St Saviour’s & St Olave’s School, London; and Aylesbury UTC (our Trust partner). As the last team to present, our anticipation and nervousness grew steadily. However, as we took to the stage, our nerves turned into a surge of adrenaline. We delivered our best performance yet—far surpassing any of our practice runs. The Q&A session went just as smoothly, and the feedback we received was encouraging.
We also had the pleasure of meeting the guest head judge Evan Davis, a man renowned for his work as a broadcaster, and host of Dragon's Den and Newsnight, whose insights and expertise added remarkable excitement to the day!
When the moment of truth arrived, we were crowned winners of the heats! It was a thrilling achievement and a testament to all our hard work. Now, we set our sights on the next challenge: presenting once again in January at the grand Mansion House, this time competing against teams from Drapers, Grocers and Haberdashers’ Livery Companies.
- Wilfrid Venners, Year 12
Photos courtesy of Kris Piotrowski