Three pupils from The Nicolson Institute on the Western Isles beat off stiff competition from schools across the Highlands and Islands to emerge as winners of the Big Green Challenge, Scotland's first debating competition for schools tackling renewable energy.

Four teams battled it out in front of a live audience and a panel of top judges last night (Tuesday) in what proved to be a nail-biting final in Inverness hosted by BBC Newsround presenter Laura Jones.
 
After nearly three hours of debate where the teams included poetry, history, science and a touch of humour in their speeches the judging panel awarded the highest marks of the contest to the three teenagers from the Nicolson - Miriam Clark, Ruth Walker and Emma Campbell.
 
All three will now look forward to the top prize in the competition - a fact-finding trip to Navarre in Northern Spain, a region which is fast gaining global recognition for its renewable energy expertise and where 61% of the region's energy needs come from renewable sources.

Ruth Walker, who took the role as speaker for the Nicolson team said: "This has been a really fantastic competition. The standard of debate has been really high and we're stunned that we've won.

"As we've prepared for each of the heats we've learnt a huge amount about renewable energy. It's a really relevant issue which everybody needs to think seriously about."

Keith Grammar School won second place and will be heading to the world famous Eden Project for their prize.
 
The two runners-up were Lochaber High School and Thurso High School.
 
The Big Green Challenge is a new event for the region and was sponsored by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
 
HIE Chairman Willy Roe praised the enthusiastic response from the region's secondary schools to the Big Green Challenge and described the competition as a 'fantastic learning journey to be proud of.'
 
The Big Green Challenge is a new debating competition for secondary schools which has been running across the Highlands and Islands. It attracted entries from 38 teams from 23 schools and involved more than 100 young people.