Lord Puttnam’s pet project has so far attracted just 1,000 nominations. That may sound a lot but with 15 categories and 32 national finalists to select, it means nominees stand an impressive one-in-31 chance of picking up a pound;10k cash prize for their school.

Odds on one of the eight top prizes of pound;20,000 are a slightly longer 125 to one but hey, it could still be you. The odds are probably better than bidding for a DFEE grant, too.

As a bonus, there’s a seven to one chance of a plug on TV - the BBC will be covering the 10 regional award events. That’s 150 local winners, folks.

The deadline for the prestigious competition has already been extended - not, heaven forfend, because of a lack of entries, organisers say, but because schools complained they hadn’t had time to enter.

The bad news: the new closing date is Sunday.