SWE-Hartford teamed with SWE-NESS to sponsor 5 young women from Connecticut Invention Convention. Volunteers virtually judged 40 inventions by female students ranging K-12. Sections awarded SWE Awards to 5 exemplary inventors and worked collaboratively with SWE New England Shoreline to partner up and deliver awards. The awards were delivered in person in the 2023 Invention Convention where students were honored with a $100 award, SWE Swag and a chance to interact with SWE Hartford Professional Members. SWE Members helped by participating in 6-10 hours of individual judging, followed by a 2-hour viewing Zoom workshop to decide on the select winners. SWE Members engaged in a collaborative, and constructive decision process to help highlight the strongest inventors who were able to execute the engineering design process and come up with novel solutions to problems with a functional prototype. Awards were given to girls from kindergarten through 8th grade to encourage early innovation and design.
Award recipients have gone on to win at the national level of the Invention Convention, as well.