Philippa Clark from Wyke Sixth Form College in Hull has won the title of Young Engineer for Britain 2009 at the inaugural Young Scientists and Engineers Fair, held in London earlier this month.
The winning project was an electronic musical scale tutor to help beginners learn the trumpet.
The device features three valves in the same configuration as a trumpet and can be programmed so the user can select the bass note of the musical scale and then choose the tonality – major, minor harmonic, minor melodic or chromatic.
When the correct valves are pushed, a green LED is illuminated, but get it wrong and a red LED lights up and a raspberry sound is made.
Seventeen-year-old Clark won £5,000, which she shares with her school, and she will represent the UK at the International Science and Engineering Fair in the US in May.