THE future of architecture and design could be in the hands of a Crosfields School pupil who received a national award this week.

Toby Raphael from Year 8 made the journey to the Science Museum in Birmingham and was honoured with the runner-up prize in the Garden Building category.

As a reward for his success, Toby was given a special 3D pen and vouchers, as well as money to help the school improve their Design and Technology department.

Diana Caldwell from competition sponsor, Alupro, said: "Crosfields School are delighted with Toby’s success in winning the runner-up prize.

"The Design and Technology department are looking forward to experimenting with the 3D pen and investing in a new piece of equipment with the vouchers.

"I think the judging panel may have had the privilege of seeing some of the first work to be produced by our country’s next generation of engineers, designers and materials scientists.

"All of the judges were impressed by the high quality of the entries and there was some intense debate during the process to select the winners, who all demonstrated a real understanding of aluminium as a material and how it can be applied to real-world product design."

The annual Alu D&T Challenge invites children aged 11-14 to enter individual or team designs for transport, building and packaging, with more than 200 entries received for the 2017 competition.

The national competition for secondary school pupils, linked to the Design and Technology curriculum in Key Stage 3, challenges children to design a sustainable product for the future using aluminium.

Architectural specialists whittled hundreds of entries down to a shortlist of 30, before announcing the three category winners at the Thinktank in Birmingham.