Shabanna Latif's A -Level grades were so good that she was invited to a special ceremony at the Science Museum in London, to be presented with a special prize by Jacqui Smith, UK Minister for Equality and Women.

Eighteeen-year-old Shabana received one of the top five grades for a female in the UK.

Shabanna, of Albert Street, Oswaldtwistle needed three grade Bs in her A-Levels to take up her place at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) and was thrilled when she learned she had received two Grade As and a B.

The "A" Star awards is a competition to find the UK's top female computing students and is sponsored by Axious Systems, Accenture and IBM and is backed by the UK Government.

The awards are designed to encourage more females to join the computer industry, with less than one-quarter of UK computer professionals and under 10% of programmers being women.

This is the second time one of Accrington & Rossendale College's female computer students to be in the top five national marks as Wang Lan pulled off a similar feat last year.