Six teenagers who want to forge careers in the public sector have won a national award for a presentation on last summer's floods in Oxford.

The aspiring policemen, dog handlers and firefighters picked won first place in the Citizenship award at the Public Services National Competition in Weybridge, Surrey.

Their work, which saw them play the parts of a firefighter, St John Ambulance worker, Oxford Mail reporter and a resident affected by the floods, was picked above 23 others by judges from the Metropolitan Police.

The group also scooped top prize in the competition's Field Craft event, after creating a watertight bivouac with an observation post during the two-day contest. All of the teenagers are studying diplomas in Uniform Public Services at the Oxpens Road campus of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College.

Tiffany-Lee Johnson, 18, from Brookside Estate in Chalgrove, who hopes to become a police dog handler, said: "I was very nervous about the presentation, but once we all settled our nerves and got into it we were fine."

The diplomas are designed to provide more information about organisations including the armed forces, fire service, police and prison service, and act as a stepping stone towards a career in each of those fields.

Last weekend's competition saw the students compete against pupils from across the country in a variety of tasks designed to test their fitness, attention to detail and teamwork skills.

Challenges included climbing a high-rise rope course, filleting and cooking fish, and working in teams to reconstruct a model helicopter from memory alone.

The group had spent a fortnight preparing for its presentation by researching the Oxford Mail's archives and interviewing people who were caught up in the floods last July.

Ryan Taylor, 19, from Picklers Hill, Abingdon, who was one of two people who manned the bivouac, said: "The camping was a lot more comfortable than the bivvy.

"There were bugs crawling in there - it wasn't very nice."

The group also took third place in a contest designed to test reactions to an imaginary chemical spill, and achieved top-five places in seven of the 12 events.

A team from the college's Banbury campus also achieved top-four finishes in the field craft, orienteering, field cooking and dealing with accidents categories.

Course leader Tommy Tucker, a former Army warrant officer, said: "The weekend is physically draining. They were warmed up by Royal Marines and they were 'beasted' before they even got to do the physical challenges. I was over the moon with their efforts."