An entrepreneurial teenager has walked away with the title of Technology Woman of the Future at the inaugural awards held in London.

Emily Cummins, of Cross Hills, was the youngest person to be shortlisted for the awards at the age of 19. She was given the title for the range of award-winning inventions that she has already created.

She said: "It's amazing. Those are the only words I can think to describe it.

The management student at Leeds University said she was shocked to even be nominated, considering that the age category was for women aged 35 and under. She said: "The people I was up against were so incredibly talented and the competition was tough. It's brilliant to win."

Emily attended South Craven School in Cross Hills and it was there that she came up with her first invention, a toothpaste dispenser for her grandfather who has arthritis.

She revealed that her interest in making things is down to her grandfather who encouraged her, and her cousins, to make things out of wood when she was a child.

She said: "He used to teach us how to make things. So when I went to school and we were taught how to use hammers and hacksaws but I already knew."

Emily is now continuing to develop her fridge which uses the sun's rays to evaporate water which in turns keeps the contents of the fridge cool.

She first came up with the idea at school and took it with her when she spent a gap-year in Namibia.

Now thanks to sponsorship from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) she is continuing to improve her invention and hopes to take it back to Africa in the summer.

She said: "I was at an exhibition when Simon Woodroffe from the BBC programme Dragon's Den came over and looked at my fridge and said you're a genius' which was brilliant."

Cherie Booth, patron of the Women of the Future Awards, said: "I'm fortunate to witness young women across the UK prospering in their chosen careers.

"But we still need more women to reach the very top. Which is why I am thrilled to be involved with the Women of the Future Awards. Young women need the inspiration that role models can bring.

"And these Awards, celebrating the amazing achievements of young women under the aged of 35, are a fabulous platform to highlight our new generation of rising stars."

e-mail: sunita.bhatti@bradford.newsquest.co.uk