I was delighted to be asked recently, for the second successive year, to serve as a judge at the regional Shell Step Scheme Awards. The Final took place last night at BAe Systems, Salmesbury, and the standard of the finalists was extremely high. Amongst the winners were a student who took an open brief to 'add value' to her company's business, and in doing so, identified a commercial usage for materials which would have previously been discarded as waste. By doing this, the company not only found an additional source of revenue, but also produced less waste. Another student, studying Law, was tasked with overhauling a company's stock system room and warehouse. This was carried out in a short space of time, and saved the company a great deal of time and stock wastage. It was quite inspiring to see the level of enthusiasm and initiative shown by the students on the project, who come from a variety of backgrounds and academic courses, and great to see a scheme like this creating opportunies for both the students and the businesses involved. Leon Calverley