The STEM Challenges are shortly to be launched by STEMNET. The series of ten challenges will see teams of Key Stage 3 pupils tackling a range of issues relating to the London 2012 Games such as sustainability and the design of athletes’ clothing.

Run in conjunction with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and funded by DCSF, each challenge will take approximately one term to complete. Over the course of the term, additional information about the challenge will be drip-fed through to the teams of 3-6 pupils through the website, along with vodcasts, podcasts and e-mail.

The STEM Challenges have been designed in a way which means they can be completed in STEM Clubs or in the classroom, and each challenge will look at real life issues that the STEM professionals behind the Olympics face. The first challenge will be launched in early October and will be based on the theme of ‘Construction’.

Each term there will be a regional winner of the Challenge, chosen by a panel of STEM Ambassadors and online voting by all of the participating schools. Each of the ten regional finalist teams will then go on to compete at national level for a change to win an 'experience' prize, related to the Olympics.

These won't necessarily be your "ordinary" prizes, as this is not an ordinary competition. Well, it's not often that a country gets to host the Olympic Games now, is it?