A group of Beijing students who made a video to show how knowledge of chemistry could help stop the spread of radiation in a nuclear disaster was awarded a top honor from the UK Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) on Thursday.

Danran Chen and Andi Wang of the Affiliated High School of Peking University won best international entry in RSC’s Bill Bryson Prize, the first time a non-UK school scooped the award. The theme of this year’s prize was celebrating the achievements of chemistry.

The competition was designed to encourage and recognize clear science communication in schools under the title "Chemistry — our life, our future".

The prizes were presented to the winning students and their teachers by Dr Robert Parker, interim chief executive of the RSC, Mr Sam Myers, science and innovation counselor at the British Embassy in Beijing, Prof David Evans, chair of the RSC Beijing Local Section and Dr Chunxiao Zheng, RSC chief representative for China at a ceremony held at the Affiliated High School of Peking University.

"This is a tremendous achievement, and their parents, teachers and school friends must be very proud of them. Science is a big part of the relationship between the UK and China. It will be even bigger in the future. Perhaps some of the brilliant Chinese schoolchildren who won this prize will study in the UK in the future. I certainly hope so,” congratulated Sebastian Wood, UK Ambassador to China.

The year 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry.