AN INVENTION that sends a text message to warn householders that their burglar alarm is going off has scooped a prize for a sixth-former.

Ross Dargan, 17, of St Robert of Newminster School, Washington, Tyne & Wear, took first place in the North-East finals of the Young Engineer For Britain competition, which took place at Samsung on Teesside.

The annual competition, with more than £3,000 in prizes at the regional final, is hotly contested. About 150 youngsters with 60 projects took part.

Ross's invention, called Secure IT, attaches to a home PC and can be set to carry out a number of burglar-beating activities.

Ross, of Leaplish, Fatfield, said: "It can send a text message to your mobile phone to tell you that the alarm is ringing, or it can give out a sound warning that an intruder is in the building. It can also be set to protect the files on your computer automatically."

Ross now goes on to the national finals in London on September 13.

The contest is organised by the Engineering Council with support from the Engineering Employers Federation Northern Association, which represents nearly 300 companies with 40,000 employees.

Martin Smith, education advisor for the EEF Northern Association, said: "We had a fantastic level of entries this year, and the students have all shown an amazing amount of ingenuity and engineering ability.

"The final decision was a tough one to make because of the skills the students showed, but Ross's design is innovative and extremely practical, as well as being well-made. We're confident he will do well representing the North-East in the final."

This year's projects ranged from a mechanical surfboard-carrier to a sleepwalk detector and a detector for hydrocarbon gases.

As well as the competition for 11 to 18-year-olds, there is a contest for people aged from 16 to 25 who have spent a year's placement in industry, organised by the EEF.

The winner was student Stephanie McGovern, whose design will enable Black & Decker to increase production of their Leaf Hog garden leaf accumulator from 21,000 to 27,000 a week with continuous production. She also goes on to the national final.