A STUDENT has come away with top honours at a prestigious Maths awards.

Atikah Momoniat, 21, from Blackburn, recently graduated from Liverpool Hope University with a BA Hons First Class degree in Mathematics and Education Studies.

Now Atikah has been rewarded for her top marks, which were one of the best in her course, after she received a prize at the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) awards.

The annual awards hand out prizes to university and college students who obtain outstanding results in Mathematics.

Atikah’s success comes after she was nominated for the awards by tutors Dr Andrew Foulkes and Dr Anna Kirpichnikova.

Each institution in the UK that runs IMA approved courses may nominate two prize-winners each year. The prize-winners receive a special certificate and a year's free membership of the Institute.

Atikah, who gained a grade A in the subject at GCSE at Beardwood Humanities College and grade C in her A Levels at Blackburn College, said: “ I’m really delighted with my results and to get this prize.”

Now she hopes to realise her dreams of becoming a Maths teacher in secondary school.

In September, she is planning on taking a one-year PGCE course in secondary Mathematics with the aim of becoming a teacher.

Atikah, who lives in Preston New Road with her dad Tareq, mum Zarina and two brothers and two sisters, said: “I’d love to be a teacher and my university results and this award has helped me to achieve this goal.”