A MILLIONAIRE entrepreneur was part of a celebrity panel which awarded £20,000 to a York student for his campus-born business.

Luke Walsh, along with his business partner and fellow student Luke Jefferson were voted the UK's top Unipreneurs by an audience of 200 guests at the BAFTA Theatre, in London.

The pair beat four other contenders after being grilled live on stage by a celebrity panel including Peter Jones, of TV's Dragon's Den, who decided their company had future potential.

Walsh, 25, of West Moor Lane, York, and Jefferson founded a company that produces a computer program to enable colour-blind people to distinguish between shades.

The HSBC Unipreneurs Awards recognise Britain's brightest young men and women who are combining their studies with running a successful business.

The government-backed awards were sponsored by HSBC Bank and presented with the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE).

They follow a recent study that suggests there could be as many as 80,000 students running a campus-born business - with some already on the way to their first million.

The business idea was born while computer science student Luke Jefferson took a holiday internship working as a programmer for a graphic design company.

He realised computers failed to take into account the problems of people with impaired colour vision, or colour "blindness2.

Jefferson restarted his PhD to allow him to work on the necessary technology and developed new software to allow colour- blind people to adapt their computer displays to suit their needs. This enables them to access colour coded data, graphics and charts.

He joined forces with Walsh and is developing two new innovative business initiatives that will include making his colour blind accessibility software available on-line.

Huw Morgan, HSBC head of business banking, said: "The outstanding quality of all the finalists represents a new breed of businessmen and women on the block who don't plan to use a good education making money for someone else.

"Walsh and Jefferson embody the essence of the HSBC Unipreneurs Awards. I hope that winning this award will help Scratchface go from strength to strength, as well as inspiring other students and graduates to turn their dreams into a reality by starting up a business."

Ian Robertson, chief executive of the Government-backed NCGE added: "This generation of Unipreneurs' are using their hard earned educations to start up credible businesses and make them real contenders in competitive markets.

"Walsh and Jefferson's determination and enthusiasm make them deserving winners of the top title."

The celebrity panel also included Wayne Hemingway, designer, and William Kendall, former CEO Green & Blacks and New Covent Garden Soup.