Read our blogs from Svalbard in the Arctic Circle

It's all part of an initiative to make young people think about science.

The teams are taking part in practical experiments alongside scientists.

You can follow the progress of some of the winning teams throughout their trip.

View our Arctic picture gallery Go straight to our picture gallery

Three of the teams have been writing regular blogs and sending their updates and pictures from the Arctic.

You can find out more about the youngsters' experience first-hand, in their own words.

And there is also a special picture gallery featuring more of the teams - follow the link below the picture to the right of this page.

We woke up to find ourselves at Longyearbyen where we returning to Svalbard University (UNIS) for a talk on the sea ice and a tour of the labs.

Dog sledding on our last day

After lunch we went up to the fjord to a beach known for it's high concentration of fossils. After a few hours of hard searching we were all permitted to take one fossil - in some cases this could result in slight excess baggage!

We are really looking forward to tomorrow (dog sledding), however it will be a very sad last day.

We are still quite far north but are making our way back.

Here's some possible excess baggage

In the morning we went to an old whaling base, where they used to boil down blubber for oil. At our second zodiac visit we had the choice to go on a hike up the mountain or a beach walk. We had to choose the beach walk since we needed to return for a conference call with our friends and parents. It was really nice to hear from our families.

Last night passing through a narrow fjord we saw a lone male polar bear on the mountain side. It took a while for it to sink in, that we were actually seeing the Arctic's most renowned creature.

Taking a dip... in the Arctic sea

The next morning, we visited Texas Bar and having gone on a hike and having a snow ball fight, we collected soil samples for the ecologist who was with us.

Later we went to Wijdelfjorden where we met an Arctic Fox Trapper who had not seen so many people in a whole year. It is impossible for us to contemplate such extreme isolation, with only the aggressive Arctic terms for company.

Then came the opportunity that we'd all been waiting for a swim in the freezing Arctic Sea. This experience made us realise how unique this whole trip is.

Having left the hostel we went down to UNIS where we had a lecture from a "terrestrial ecologist" describing how different organisms survive extreme conditions live Svalbard.

We've been finding out how organisms survive extreme conditions

It was amazing to realise what complicated systems simple creatures like frogs have developed. Afterwards we then got on the Polaris boat and headed up the fjord to a Russian coal mining settlement.

It was strange to see due to the power stations placement in such a fragile environment. - SUNDAY 8th Today using Zodiac boats we went on shore and were fortunate enough to see an arctic fox in its summer coat .

Over the last few days we have been lucky enough to see wildlife such as fin whales that we imagined to be very elusive. We are really looking forward to going to Ny Alesund later which is an international research centre.

Hello everyone. We are here! After 2 delayed flights, we finally boarded our last plane to Svalbard.

View of an Arctic valley

We eventually got in our rooms at 3am after having just seen a reindeer outside the guest house's restaurant.

The midnight sun was in full effect, we were completely not used to sleeping in broad daylight (and still aren't) but after the day of travelling we had, we were very happy to sleep, light and all.

The best part of the trip so far was the safety training .

The teams have been checking out the wildlife

We learnt how to spot and scare off a polar bear and rifle training (although we didn't get to shoot) we got water training too, everyone was wearing these bright orange survival suits which I must say are tres chic!

My friend just happened to "forget" there was a massive tear in mine!! We learnt how to set up a tent in Svalbard and ate some hot chocolate cos we had to use a stove. So we are all as Ronald McDonald would say "loving it".

Well we are here at last. We arrived at our bed at 1/2 3 in the morning and had to get up at 1/2 7!

We've all had to do survival training

So for those of you who cant add up - that's 4 hours sleep! The flights were long and late and tiring. The airport in Longyearbyen is tiny - its a runway with an aeroplane hanger as a terminal!!!!

So after our few hours sleep we were helpful by making sandwiches for our lunch - that was cheese, cheese and ham, ham, cheese and tomato, cheese ham and tomato and ham with tomato. So after that this morning we went to the Worlds Biggest Satellite Station.

This is our second blog actually posted from the Arctic and we are having lots of fun!

The scenery is fantastic

On Sunday night we sailed through a narrow channel on a wildlife cruise and were lucky enough to see a polar bear! It was so beautiful and was crawling on a mountain. It was hard to believe it was dangerous!

Yesterday we went to Texas Bar a remote area adjacent to the coast, there was some stunning scenery.

The highlight of the day was swimming in the Arctic Sea! It was freezing but great fun! This is Liss and Lucy signing off from 80� North.

Today is Sunday 8 July and our second day onboard the Polaris ship. we boarded yesterday after a presentation from UNIS regarding entomology(insects!!!!!) It was very interesting and we shall be taking data samples later on to aid UNIS with their research.

On board a Zodiac boat

Today we started with a trip to Ny London a deserted area alive with wildlife . We used the Zodiac boats to get there which was very exciting . There were reindeer foxes and lots of birds. The views were stunning now we are going to Ny Alesund to meet with several scientists . wee are having a great time - bye for now.

The weather is very cold (not in a bad way), and thermals were out of the suitcase first!

"Here we are writing this blog"

Lucy: The scenery is breathtaking. The mountains interlock and are dotted with ice- it's beautiful! The Arctic air is so fresh, clean and so refreshing. I love it!

Liss: After waiting hours and hours of waiting at airports, lugging the baggage around, we finally got here! One thing is for sure, it's very different to Doncaster! No floods around here, just miles and miles of ice and mountains. It was so weird when we actually went through a cloud today on the way to the Satellite Station!!!