A GROUP of Dungannon students have been named the Young Enterprise UK Company of the Year.
The teenagers, from St Patrick's College, formed the company Enlighten Hope which has created several books to deal with the affects of cancer treatment.
It is the first time in more than two decades that a Young Enterprise team from the north has won the UK-wide accolade.
The students wrote and illustrated a series of three short stories that deal with the side effects of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy in a child-friendly way.
They have expanded their product internationally – visiting publishers in Dublin and New York, and securing a deal to sell the books on the Amazon Kindle Store.
This group of young entrepreneurs even took it upon themselves to purchase an ISBN for their products.
They recently secured a deal with Libraries NI to stock the books in libraries across the north including Belfast Central, Coleraine, Derry Central, Dungannon, Enniskillen and Portadown.
The team were mentored along the way by two business advisors from HSBC, who offered their wealth of business experience to the company.
Enlighten Hope’s managing director, Iveta Liovinaite, said the competition "has been a life changing experience for us all".
"We are more assured than ever that ‘Learning by Doing’ really is the best means of education," she said.
"Our personal development in terms of business acumen, confidence, ability and self-belief has surpassed our wildest dreams. We want to thank the organisers of Young Enterprise for providing us with the opportunity to become more educated, independent and organised as individuals and team players.”
Young Enterprise Northern Ireland CEO Carol Fitzsimons described them as "truly an inspirational group of young people".
"Their company programme journey began with us in September and their passion, work ethic and determination to succeed has impressed throughout. They are a shining example of the workplace skills and confidence developed by young people through participation in our company programme, and highlight how important it is that every child in Northern Ireland should get this opportunity.”
Enlighten Hope will now progress to the Overall Europe awards which will be held in Switzerland.
