TeenTech

26/06/2026

We also want to celebrate somebody very special. Kathy Dare, a former teacher, who joined the TeenTech team back in 2012 and has been a driving force behind our TeenTech Festivals, TeenTech Awards and TeenTech City of Tomorrow. She's leaving our team and will be SO missed.

26/06/2026

A thought-provoking One-Minute Wonder from Hannah Gibson of Diverse Integration! 💛 After praising just how incredible this year's projects have been, Hannah turned the conversation to accessibility.

Last year she explored accessibility through the lens of disability. This year, she framed it differently: WTV, or "What The Vulnerability".

To bring it to life, she got the whole room on their feet, asking everyone to sit down if a statement applied to them:
1️⃣ Have you ever broken a bone or had an illness and needed time to recover?
2️⃣ Have you ever been through a major family event?
3️⃣ Have you ever been too nervous to ask a question, thinking everyone else already knew the answer?
4️⃣ Have you ever had a bad night's sleep and felt overwhelmed?

Within moments, almost the entire room was seated, just a couple of people left standing. Were those the faces we picture when we say "vulnerable"?

Hannah's powerful message: vulnerability isn't a label for a few, it's a human experience that touches all of us, and accessibility is what props us up in those moments. So when you design something, build in accessibility from the start. Design for everyone. 🌟

Follow along all day on our live blog! ✨
🔗 https://teentech.com/teentech-awards-2026-live-blog/

26/06/2026

What a story! ⚽ Paul McVeigh takes to the stage with his One-Minute Wonder. A former forward and winger who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, Burnley and Luton Town, Paul knows all about reaching the top.

His secret weapon? Paul McKenna's Sports Hypnosis cassette! 🎧 Long before his success on the pitch, Paul used it to visualise his career, picturing exactly where he wanted to be. A brilliant reminder to our young innovators of the power of believing in yourself and imagining what's possible. 🌟

Follow along all day on our live blog! ✨
🔗 https://teentech.com/teentech-awards-2026-live-blog/

26/06/2026

Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier, Bank of England, is on stage, showcasing her One-Minute Wonder, which is all around the security contained within a bank note, something that her team are responsible for and innovating on. She has teams of scientists working on making counterfeiting as difficult as possible. So, there's a lot of science in your pocket. She's also telling us how they'll be moving to featuring British wildlife on banknotes going forward.

26/06/2026

A powerful and personal One-Minute Wonder! 🧬 Rory Cellan-Jones takes to the stage to talk about living with Parkinson's, and the medication he takes to manage its effects.

Rory is part of a clinical trial, which means one of his drugs could be one of three things, including a placebo. But there's real hope on the horizon. Just down the road from here, researchers have been using AlphaFold, the AI breakthrough that has mapped the intricate 3D structures of millions of proteins, helping scientists understand how the building blocks of life fit together and opening up faster routes to new medicines. 💛

A brilliant reminder of how the technology our young innovators are exploring today could change lives tomorrow. 🌟

Follow along all day on our live blog! ✨
🔗 https://teentech.com/teentech-awards-2026-live-blog/

26/06/2026

Zoe has joined us. She is talking about how she was inspired to help children understand MRI scanners and to make them less scary. She prototyped and then fully produced a model that was remote-controlled and interactive. She's since used this with hundreds of children every year. She's telling students to believe in themselves. Incredibly inspiring.

26/06/2026

Next to the stage is Dallas Campbell, TV presenter and author, who still has trauma from diving into a Mexican sewer. His one minute wonder if Amazing Stories, full of amazing stories (!) and predictions of the future - they predicted robots, solar panels. But, as Dallas explains, it also helped BUILD the future.

How do we make things real? It begins with the imagination. Inventors began by reading magazines and watching movies, and that's what can inspire the future.

Treat your imagination like a muscle and exercise it. Watch movies, draw, read... Whatever inspires you, go and do it.

26/06/2026

TeenTech Alumna, Safa, is on stage. She's sharing her TeenTech journey. She didn't win the TeenTech Awards, but her TeenTech journey has been inspiring and she's since joined the TeenTech Young Person's Advisory Board.

26/06/2026

Now, our first special guest.. From Dragon's Den, Evan Davis (). Evan is sharing his One-Minute Wonder. He's obsessed with total solar eclipses. If you go to the right place, at the right time, you can stand in the shadow of the mood. How cool is that? 🌛

26/06/2026

And now, some more messages of support from teachers, parents, siblings, cats, dogs, teachers and more...

https://youtu.be/506FzJ9ycBw

The TeenTech Awards 2026 Prizegiving Ceremony has begun! And here a...