Caolan McKendry from Dalriada School, Ballymoney, was recently awarded first prize for his ‘Pick It Right’ app at Kainos CodeCamp. Northern Ireland’s biggest coding workshop for 200 teens was held in Belfast from 16th-27th of July and was run by Kainos, in association with Queen’s University Belfast.

Attendees new to the camp took the Foundation Course, during which they learnt the principles of coding and how to create their own apps and those who had previously completed the Foundation Course were eligible for the Advanced Course, where they developed their own website with the help and guidance of skilled mentors.

The Ballymoney teenager designed the winning app, that allows shoppers to scan the barcode of any food to identify allergy risks.

On the last day of camp, Caolan who attended the Foundation Course, was selected to pitch his newly developed app to a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style judging panel of IT experts, who were collectively blown away by the intelligence, technical aptitude and sheer creativity of his design.

The judges concluded that Caolan’s app was user friendly, could be operated quickly and conveniently and was massively helpful to people with food allergies, in their everyday lives.

Winning students took home some phenomenal tech prizes, including a Raspberry Pi, Nintendo Switch and iPad pro, sponsored by Danske Bank, to reward their progress and coding capabilities.

Commenting on the success of the CodeCamp this year, Conor McCourt, CodeCamp co-ordinator at Kainos said: “I was completely amazed at the phenomenal quality of the apps and websites produced by our CodeCampers.

“It’s easy to forget how young the campers are because of the talent, passion and technical aptitude they brought to their designs.”

Kainos CEO, Brendan Mooney said: “The principal function of Kainos CodeCamp is to encourage more students to pursue STEM subjects and careers.”

“It was inspirational to see so much creativity on display and what the participants have been able to do in just two weeks of coding is absolutely amazing.

“We hope to see some of the CodeCampers back next year to take the Advanced Course or on one of the other courses we offer through the Kainos Academy. Our annual A.I.Camp, for undergraduates and our Earn As You Learn apprenticeship scheme are further initiatives delivered in an effort to find talented young people and help them fulfil their potential, through world-class training and mentoring.”

Kainos CodeCamp is set to return in summer 2019 and students can register their interest for a place at codecamp.kainos.com.