Celebrating Chemistry

BY EMMA GREGORY

Like many things, Chemquiz 2021 was a little different to previous years. Covid restrictions may have meant that the competition went virtual but the standard of entries remained incredibly high.

Teams of four students from schools in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire each prepared a presentation on a wide range of topics including chemistry in medicine, the challenge of plastic waste and chemistry in food production. Entries were submitted in September 2021 to an expert panel of judges with representatives from academia and the chemical industry.

This annual event, organised by the education sub-committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC) Manchester and District Section since 1987, was again sponsored by BASF plc. Participants were excited to be presented with a science dictionary provided by BASF.

The overall winners were Cheadle Hulme School.

Team members Joss Gavaghan, Erin Browne, Oscar Boanas and Oscar McQuitty went on to represent the region in the national RSC Top of the Bench competition.

Head of Chemistry at Cheadle Hulme School, Ian Chippendale commented, “I would like to thank BASF for once again sponsoring the RSC ChemQuiz North West competition and for providing the illustrated science dictionaries for Erin, Oscar, Joss and Oscar.  These four students from Cheadle Hulme School put a huge amount of work into their presentation on drug development and were delighted to be announced as the North West winners.”