Employment opportunities in the North West for graduates of the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems at the University of Ulster's Magee Campus were highlighted at the School's annual presentation of awards.

Professor Liam Maguire, Head of School of Computing and Intelligent Systems says the awards, which are all sponsored by local businesses, were introduced as a way of establishing stronger working relationships with the business community.

Professor Maguire commented: "These prizes not only recognise the academic achievement of these students but they also emphasise the willingness of local companies to promote excellence in computing and electronics. We are witnessing a high demand for our computing and engineering graduates as there are lots of opportunities both locally and nationally. I wish these students well in their future careers".

Both Nigel Smyth and Brian Cather are from Castlederg, and they were the joint recipients of the Nallatech sponsored prize for the Best Final Year BEng Electronics and Computer Systems student. Nigel and Brian also picked up individual awards.

Nigel won the prize for the Best Final Year Project in BEng Electronics and Computer Systems, which was sponsored by International Test Technologies. Chief Executive Officer of ITT, Billy Fenton, presented the prize.

Brian was awarded the prize for the Best Embedded System Project in final year BEng Electronics and Computer Systems, sponsored by Asidua.

The NWIIP Designs award for the Best Final Year student in BSc Hons Multimedia Computing and Design went to Dualta Wilson, and the Kainos sponsored award for the Best Final Year Student in BSc Hons Computer Science went to Martin Porter. Both Dualta and Martin are from Buncrana in County Donegal.

Paul Mearns from Limavady won the prize for the Best First Year BSc Hons Computer Science student, which was sponsored by Perfecseal.