A DRIVE to get more young people interested in engineering is proving a success.

Derwentside Engineering Forum took its show on the road to raise the profile of the profession as a potential career.

The forum, supported by nine organisations, including the Engineering Employers and the Royal Engineers, has spent the past two weeks talking to 1,300 pupils from eight schools in north-west Durham.

It has had an immediate impact, with entries more than trebling for the forum's annual Schools Engineering Challenge, which was launched at Blackfyne School, Consett.

Forum head John Hodgson said: "Last year, around 100 pupils entered and we have had three times that.

"We have managed to raise awareness in engineering and now we want to raise the quality of the entries in the competition."

The contest pits teams of 15 and 16-year-olds against each other in the race to design and build a successful machine.

Each school taking part works with two business mentors on their entries.

Tanfield School won the event last year, which centred on creating a turbine and a buggy to carry it.

This year the competition will focus on electronics and robotics.