A Welwyn organisation that gives young people experience in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths careers has won a national award.

The Engineering Development Trust (EDT), which is based at the Weltech Business Centre, won the Digital Innovation of the Year Award at the Enginuity Skills Awards 2022.

The awards aim to celebrate the best talent across the engineering and manufacturing industries in the UK.

The EDT is an independent education charity, established in 1984, which runs a range of schemes that reach over 40,000 young people annually, helping to inspire and motivate them to choose courses and careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

EDT delivers a range of tasters, projects and placements, which run from one day experiences up to 12 months in an industry placement, providing hands-on activities and skills development for young people aged 9 to 21, and beyond.

Julie Feest, accepting the award, said: “It’s brilliant to have an accolade like this to recognise the hard work that we’ve done for young people over the last year.

“Awards like these are incredibly important because it’s our way of showing what a difference we can make to young people to give them hope for the future.

“Covid has made a lot of people anxious about their future opportunities but in engineering there are so many wonderful opportunities.”

Chief executive officer at Enginuity, Ann Watson, said: “It was wonderful to see so many brilliant apprentices, learners and companies being awarded and celebrated.

“We have a remarkable depth of talent and enthusiasm at work throughout our sectors.

“Enginuity’s charitable mission is to help give engineers the opportunity to change their world and ours and these awards are the perfect opportunity to recognise their efforts.

“This is particularly important when it comes to supporting those who are starting or developing their careers, as well as enabling industry to bridge the skills gap.

“I’d like to thank everyone who made the night such a success and of course, congratulate our very deserving winners.”

For more information, visit enginuity.org/news-events/skills-awards/