A BT team called Swampy 2 was judged to be the winner of BT’s new competition - the Creative Challenge.

The winning entry was submitted by Robin Howard, Barry Millar, Paul Graham, Richard Sheath and Ron van de Water from BT Design and BT Operate, who scooped a category prize of £500 as well as the top prize of £3,000. Two other projects submitted by the team also won their category prizes.

The winners were announced at a gala dinner at Chelsea College of Art in London, after the judges had considered entries from 30 shortlisted finalists, who all attended last night’s event.

Peter Morgan, group director of communications at BT, was master of ceremonies for the event.

Robin, who received the grand prize and trophy from Jonathon Porritt, co-founder and programme director of the UK sustainable development organisation Forum for the Future, said the team felt “privileged and honoured” to have won.

“I can’t describe what it felt like to win from such an outstanding line-up of finalists,” he said. “The enthusiasm and ideas they had generated were astounding.”

Robin said the project - Virtually Saving the Planet - was a concept for a computer game based around a virtual world in which avatars have to save their planet from ecological disasters.

“We have agreed to give a substantial portion of our prize money to a charity called the Environment Investigation Agency,” he said.

More than 120 individuals or teams entered the competition - which was open to BT people and students of the London College of Communication and which encouraged people to think creatively about how to communicate climate change issues and ways in which people can reduce their carbon footprint.

There were ten categories - from an idea for a marketing campaign, to a piece of creative writing, or a potential community event.

The shortlisted finalists included 17 entries from BT people and 13 from London College of Communication students. They featured seven pieces of creative writing, two computer games, one event, one exhibition, five interior designs, seven marketing campaigns, three moving images and four publications.