With their slogan: ‘don’t lend it, vend it’ promoting their in-school stationery vending machine a team from Castle Rushen High School have become Junior Achievement Isle of Man Company of the Year winners and will be representing the Island at the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year competition in Oslo this August. The winning team, Cahoots - Grace Costain, Ruby Callister, Katie Danes, Katie Gilson and Sarah Reeday - were presented with the Company of the Year trophy by Chris Gledhill managing director of PDMS, sponsor of the awards, at a ceremony held at the Mount Murray Hotel. In presenting the trophy Mr Gledhill said he had been impressed by the range of innovative ideas presented by all the finalists and that the Junior Achievement company programme process demonstrated ‘the important role’ advice played in acquiring entrepreneurial skills, setting up a business and taking products to market. Teams from three schools received awards. Ballakermeen High School’s team The Generation produced an eco-bag printed with unique designs created by their in-house design team that has already attracted an order from Shoprite, while Minutes devised the ‘Seatercise’, a band that when placed around the feet helps the wearer conduct exercises to help boost circulation. Cahoots was one of two winning teams from Castle Rushen High School; the other, Cheers, had created a range of affordable gifts using recycled materials and won the team challenge at the end of the earlier company programme finals. From Ramsey Grammar School Soul IOM had devised an e-card system to encourage reduced carrier bag use, while Mann Co had designed a range of hoodies and polo shirts for student wear. Other schools participating in the company programme were King William’s College and Queen Elizabeth II High School. The HSBC award for Corporate Social Responsibility went to Ramsey Grammar School’s Soul IOM, praised by the bank’s Kim Quirk for their ‘fully engrained’ CSR strategy. The Ambitions award for Best Accounts presented by Richard Kissack went to Cahoots for their ‘excellent balance sheet.’ The team also won the Capital International award for Best Company Report and were praised by Anthony Long for their ‘attractive report that told the whole story of their business from start to finish.’ Stuart Hutchinson from Mann Co won the OSA award for Outstanding Team Member presented by Nicola Openshaw who said Stuart had been ‘more than willing to go that extra mile.’ The Ramsey Grammar School student said he believed he had been nominated for ‘his helpful attitude’ and ‘for driving everyone around to appointments.’ New to the 2011 awards was the AXA Isle of Man Special Recognition award won by Minutes from Ballakermeen High School and praised by Malcolm Lewis for their ‘highly innovative’ product that demonstrated ‘quite clearly they had not been limited by their imagination.’ The Barclays Wealth award for Mentor of the Year went to Jenny Qualtrough of Deloitte. Presenting the award the bank’s Simon Scott said that in mentoring The Generation she had ‘offered the right mix of letting the team make their own choices but stepping in to help when required.’ Jenny said she had found the experience valuable and had been able to apply the mentoring skills she had acquired in her own workplace. The Friends Provident International Best Trade Stand award was presented by Jonathan Hall to The Generation, who praised the team for their ‘eye-catching display.’ The Generation also won the Richard Holt award for Students’ Choice, an award where students are invited to vote for the team they feel should win the overall competition. Rory O’Shea from The Generation won the Maggie Galloway Memorial award for Inspirational Leadership, presented by Ian Galloway who said Rory had ‘kept the entire team on task’ and made running a business ‘a fun thing to be part of.’ The Ballakermeen High School student said he believed he had been nominated by his colleagues for ‘keeping the team motivated’ and ‘varying the mix’. The evening was hosted by Junior Achievement Isle of Man chief executive Sue Cook who said that in an ever-changing world, young people needed to be more adaptable than ever before and explained: ‘Junior Achievement's company programme gives hundreds of students around the world the opportunity to prepare for their working life through the experience of running their own business, supported by volunteer business advisers.’ She said that this academic year the Manx-registered charity would be running 150 classes in 18 schools reaching 4,000 young people and that her ‘long-term dream’ was to ensure every child in the Manx education system benefited from Junior Achievement programmes. Entertainment was provided by Rebecca Forrest, a Manx Stars in Your Eyes and Manx Factor contestant and the evening was also supported by Britannia International, Canada Life International, Deloitte, Hamblin Employment Group, Jim Dale of Carphone Warehouse and chairman of Junior Achievement Isle of Man, the Steam Packet and Swagelock. For details of Junior Achievement’s accredited volunteering qualification (CVQ) and fundraising events, contact Sue Cook, 666266, suecook@jaiom.im. www.jaiom.im Ends