Update: Talented St Francis' College pupil Jemima Hewitt awarded coveted Letchworth business design honour from Datasound Laboratories Ltd

Datasound Laboratories Ltd (DSL) announced the winner of its inaugural Design Academy 2023 award is 15-year-old Jemima Hewitt from the independent girls college in our town.

The Design Academy is a competition run in local schools and colleges to identify young engineering excellence and promote STEM, developing and encouraging the next generation of design engineers. 

Hundreds of entrants from a host of local educational establishments were whittled down to 10 finalists for the prestigious event, held at the Broadway Ballroom in Letchworth.

Each finalist presented their idea to a packed venue and responded to questions from the expert panel of judges. Each judge marked each entry against four attributes (originality, thoroughness, feasibility and presentation) and the winner was derived from their collective totals. 

Managing director and owner of Datasound Laboratories Ltd (DSL) Rory Dear said: "The overall winner, Jemima, presented her concept of a home recycling crusher that addresses the issue of overfilled recycling bins and where that overspill can end up.

"The device compacts your recyclable waste as it fills enabling a far greater quantity of household waste to be correctly recycled." 

Rory, who succeeded DSL founder, Derek Carpenter, following his retirement, added generously: "Outside of the winner, the nine other finalists all presented fantastic, well thought-out ideas that spanned devices to help those struggling with plant maintenance, disabilities, bullying and their parents stealing their baking whilst they're at school!"

Talented Jemima won both an iPad for herself and £500 of design and technology equipment for her school, to better equip that next generations of engineers. 

In attendance was DSL's retired founder, Derek Carpenter, of whom the award was named in his honour, recognising his life's work, particularly mentoring younger staff, most notably the now company owner, Rory.  

The Design Academy competition and awards evening were organised and hosted by DSL's Tom Scott and Brooke Fisher. 

The finalists were: 

Jemima Hewitt (15) – St Francis' College - winner

Albie Smith (6) – St Mary's Academy 

Kaci Rennie (10) – Wilbury Junior School 

Laura Szmigielska (10) – Wilbury Junior School 

Sami Uddin (10) – Wilbury Junior School 

Matthew Pike (10) – Hartsfield JMI School 

Eleanor Weaver (11) – Hartsfield JMI School 

Isabella Abbassi (13) – Knights Templar School 

Kyle Rooney (14) – Knights Templar School 

Emilia-Elza Francisco (14) – Knights Templar School 

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Rory Dear (above) is managing director and owner of Datasound Laboratories Ltd (DSL)

About DSL 

Datasound Laboratories Ltd (DSL) is a Letchworth based Electronic Design Consultancy, specialising in taking ideas to reality through the design and manufacture of electronic products. DSL's typical projects are in the industrial market, but our designs can be found anywhere where reliability is critical.  

DSL combine the provision of robust and reliable, off-the-shelf or bespoke designed industrial computing solutions with a can-do attitude that helps our client deliver exceptional products and services to their customers

About Rory Dear 

Rory Dear is managing director and owner of Datasound Laboratories Ltd (DSL) succeeding the founder, Derek Carpenter, following his retirement. Rory was educated locally and at 18, was given the chance to succeed by Derek Carpenter and took it, working his way up the ladder before being offered the chance to acquire the company via MBO as part of Derek Carpenter's retirement. 

Rory has maintained the culture and structure of the company ever since, but expanded the business to widen the scope of products we design and to get more involved in the local community, both through charity work and directly encouraging future engineers via awards such as these. 

About Design Academy 

For more information about the Design Academy, visit https://www.dsl-ltd.co.uk/dsl-design-academy/