Top Eleven in the Country!

Taylor has been at Alton Towers Amusement Park today with the rest of her Young Enterprise Group celebrating their success in the Regional Finals. Their Group 'Novelty' did not go forward as the overall winners to the National Finals in London, being pipped to the post by the Staffordshire Area winners - Versaleaf  (who, from what I can gather were selling macrame shoulder bags as their business initiative).

However, the 15 second advert that Taylor created using the animation software Flash, DID win in the West Midland Media Award category sponsored by the Daily Telegraph. Taylor is thrilled to know that her advert is now considered one of the top eleven in the country.

The National winner in the Media Award category will be judged at the London event and it could potentially mean an all expenses paid night at The Savoy for Taylor and a friend.

I have my fingers firmly crossed for her but whatever happens, she can be very proud of herself.

This is her advert which I think is 15 seconds of pure genius!

Young Enterprise

I have been competing for computer time recently with my youngest daughter, who has discovered the CBeebies website with the Mr Bloom games (notably 'Margaret's Patch Match') and Taylor who has been working on a project for a Young Enterprise scheme she is involved in.

Taylor and a group of girls from her college formed a Young Enterprise company selling bird houses. They buy the plain wooden bird boxes from a retired family friend of one of the members at very little cost and add value by customising them with different paint designs. Customers are able to choose the style they want when they make an order.

They have been very successful - a success that was recognised at the Celebration of Awards Ceremony in March when they were presented with awards in four categories including 'Best Company' for which they were presented with an impressive trophy.

Taylor beaming with pride with the trophy on her head!

As the overall winners in their area, they have now been invited to make a presentation for the Regional Finals in Birmingham later this month.

Taylor will be presenting a 15 second advert for the company that she has created herself using the animation software 'Flash'. Big sister, Liberty, helped out by composing a twiddly piano background music which really brought the animation to life. The whole thing has a very pink theme to represent the fact that they are an all-girl group.

Putting together the animation, sound effects and music did mean I was forcibly ejected from the computer from time to time but it was well worth the sacrifice. I am so proud of Taylor for all her achievements but I think that the advert, from a girl with limited artistic ability (!) is genius.

These are some screen shots for a flavour of the project. Hopefully, once the advert is posted to You Tube I can share the whole thing - maybe even with news of success in Regional Finals. I will have my fingers crossed for that.