Young Keighley pupils confronted a Dragons’ Den-style panel of judges as part of a contest to promote business and marketing expertise.

The youngsters showcased goods ranging from herbal butter and games made from recycled materials to football products, stationery and an innovative garden bird feeder.

Pupils from the seven Keighley primary schools marketed their ideas to a five-strong panel of judges at Gesipa Blind Riveting Systems, in Dalton Lane.

The winners of the Bradford Council-organised Step Up Market Challenge will have the chance to sell their creations from a stall in Church Green, Keighley, on June 30, and from a stand in Darley Street, Bradford, on July 7.

Eighty teams from across the Bradford district, from an initial field of 177, won through to the panel interview stage of the contest.

The local schools competing last Thursday were Victoria, Lees, St Andrew’s, Oxenhope, Worth Valley, Nessfield and Steeton. Another competitor, Keighley Association Women and Children’s Centre, appeared before judges in Bradford earlier this month.

Each team can bid for up to £100 to get its business ready to trade.

Once the successful teams have sold their goods at the two stalls, three cash prizes will be offered. These will include £250 for the most profitable team, £125 for the team with the most innovative product and £125 for the team with the best marketing campaign.

Amerjeat Sarai, the competition’s project manager, said the initiative was being run by the Education Business Partnership, part of the council’s children’s services department.

She said: “Businesses, including Gesipa, have offered to host the product pitches free of charge. It’s a good experience for the young people to be in a business environment. They get introduced to staff and we try to make everything as realistic as possible. The competition is going like clockwork – the standard of entries is very high. The fact that the children are so young doesn’t seem to faze them at all.”