Twelve local inventors entered Shropshire’s own “dragons’ den” in the hope of winning £5,000 to help turn their hopes into reality.

For three of them, the dream is still alive, after they were chosen to face a public vote at this year’s Shropshire Business Awards.

But for the other nine, it was the end of the road.

The Shropshire Star has joined forces with Shropshire Chamber of Commerce this year to launch Star Idea.

It is designed to reward and assist local inventors who have a great product or idea, but lack the financial support to get it off the ground.

The 12 semi-finalists were each given 10 minutes yesterday to sell their idea to a panel of “dragons” at the chamber’s headquarters in Telford.

The Star Idea panel was made up of Fay Easton, from Shropshire Enterprise Partnership; Ian Morris, of local accountancy firm Turner Peachey; Di Thompson, from the e-innovation centre in Telford; and Peter Pawsey of the Rural Regeneration Zone.

The judges chose Lisa Pickering, from Hadley, who has invented greetings cards which grow when planted; Anthony Smith, from Donnington, for his laptop holder; and Sue Hedges and Angela Savchenko, from Telford, with their MoanAboutMen website.

Fay, speaking on behalf of the judges, said today: “We were overwhelmed by the quality and ingenuity of the Star Ideas.

“The enterprising spirit that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution in this county is certainly alive, well and prospering.”

She added: “It was an agonising effort to reduce the 12 ideas to just three and this painful frustration for the judges resulted in an enthusiastic agreement to bring all of these amazing innovators together again to find more ways to help get their fantastic products to market.”

The finalists will have their ideas presented live on stage at this year’s Shropshire Business Awards summer ball.

The event takes place at Telford’s International Centre on June 22, when an audience of about 600 business leaders will be invited to vote for the winner.

The winner will receive a guaranteed £5,000 in cash to help get their Star Idea off the ground, plus a package of other support services from local businesses, including business development and marketing help worth £1,500 from the Telford-based Quantum Organization.

By Henry Carpenter