NEW College T-Level student Fe'lix Hennis won a Future Tech Superstar award in a national ceremony.

The digital production, design and development high-achiever submitted an idea after being encouraged by lecturers which was picked as the top five in the country.

Award organisers praised the achievement: “Competition was fierce with lots of debate from the judges before our final cut could be announced.”

Fe'lix now hopes to make the app a reality after completing work experience with Microsoft and studying at the college. 

Fe'lix said: "I noticed there is a lack of communication between schools and home-schoolers to help support the children’s needs.

"Having two younger sisters who are both heavily autistic, I’ve seen the struggles first hand so I wanted to come up with an app that would help support my younger siblings, and others who have autism to become more independent in future life.

"The whole experience has honestly been great and actually being the Future Tech Superstar has been amazing. It’s been fantastic to see my idea get this far. I want to develop the app further and see how it can benefit everyone with grounding techniques when things get overwhelming. I’m really enjoying the coding and physical aspect of my course as I want to go into software design and development once I finish college.

"I like coming up with an idea and being able to actually put it into practice. I really wanted to do the T Level because if I couldn’t find a company to help develop my app, I wanted to be able to have the skills to do it myself. "

The Techies Awards are The Business Exchange’s technology awards for Swindon and Wiltshire.

A New College spokesman said: "The Professional and Digital department are thrilled to share that Fe'lix Hennis on our T Level digital programme has won the Swindon Techie award for Future Tech Superstar!

"In an online awards ceremony, Fe'lix received the accolade for his commitment to studies in computing and for his vision and drive towards his innovative ideas for apps development. 

"Fe'lix was joined on the 'hybrid' live ceremony that took place both in a studio and via remote call - by parents, friends and staff who all tuned in to see the exciting and entertaining awards ceremony which featured goody bags, DJs and messages from corporate sponsors.

"As well as a plaque and certificate, Fe'lix has been invited to talk to a number of local employers including the award category sponsor Ntegra who are keen to support him in developing his app, and potentially completing the work placement portion of his TLevel qualification."