A 16-year-old York student is heading for success after making it to the finals of a national engineering contest.

Maddie Doyle, a pupil at Huntington School, was the runner-up in the regional heats of the Green Design Challenge UK.

She will compete in the national finals in July and could win an expedition worth £1,000.

The contest aims to increase the number of women in engineering - currently only ten per cent of engineering undergraduates are female.

Maddie, who is studying for A-levels in mathematics, physics, psychology and product design, is hoping to be a civil engineer.

She said: "My father is an engineer and I have always been interested in it.

"There are so many different aspects of engineering, it is not just one subject area."

At the regional event she was part of a team of four which had to design and build a wind turbine.

Martin Simpson, one of three judges, said: "The talent and ingenuity demonstrated by the students in applying complex engineering principles to real-life problems was truly impressive, and the students thoroughly enjoyed the experience."

The final will take place at Imperial College, London, from July 12 to 14.

Updated: 12:29 Wednesday, April 21, 2004