Biotechnology in Farming and Food is the theme of the Agri Aware Challenge 2000, a competition for Transition Year students, organised by Agri Aware and The Irish Times, to stimulate interest and debate on the vexed area of biotechnology and genetic modification.

The competition aims to promote greater awareness not only for the public but within the farming and food sectors as well of issues like best practice in the protection of the environment, animal welfare and food safety.

The competition runs over the next couple of months, but Transition Year students who intend to take part in the competition have until next Friday to get in their application forms - but not their projects - to Agri Aware.

Students already will have received information packs outlining the kinds of projects required for the competition. After submitting their entry forms, they will get further information, including details of websites, to help with their research and final report. For the competition proper, they will have to prepare a paper, setting out all the issues as they see them and their final report must contain conclusions and recommendations on how the consumer, the farmer and the food processor should deal with biotechnological developments in farming and food.

Agri Aware is a trust set up to raise consciousness about agriculture and food. While the trust has been active at primary school level, even taking a mobile farm unit with animals and poultry around to city schools in particular, this is the first national project undertaken for Transition Year students.

Very valuable prizes are being offered for the winning projects: the winning team members - between three and five students will constitute each team - will each receive a computer, a trophy and a certificate. The runners up will each receive a mountain bike, a trophy and certificate, and the members of the team in third place each get a Sony Playstation with games, a trophy and certificate. Each of the schools of the winning teams will also get a computer as a school prize. In total, the prizes are worth some £12,000.