A passionate homage to a Victorian reformer and a mock Dragons' Den episode about a leader of the First Crusade have triumphed in the Young Historians' Podcast Competition, organised by BBC History Magazine and the Historical Association.

The judges were hugely impressed by the overall standard, but in the end agreed that Josh McStay and a team led by Oliver East deserved to win the individual and group categories respectively.

Seventeen-year-old McStay from William Howard School in Cumbria selected James Steel, a Carlisle mayor and journalist, as his hero. McStay admired Steel as being "an early advocate for social reform".

The judging panel, comprising historians Tom Holland, Lucy Worsley, Helen Castor, Dan Snow and Saul David, praised McStay's argument and compelling delivery.

In the group category, the winners from Salesian College in Farnborough used the BBC Two series Dragons' Den as a means of describing the qualities of 12th-century crusader Bohemond of Antioch. They chose Bohemond because "he had enough passion and drive to lead an army into the unknown across the Holy Land".

In selecting the group winner, the judges stated: "None of the group entries fully met the criteria we set, but this group took an entertaining approach, based on the Dragons' Den TV series. We felt it used comedy to explicate the relationship between Byzantium and the crusaders and the relative nature of the concept of heroism."

There were also five individual runners-up: James Heale of Kingston Grammar School, Alice Roberts of Wycombe Abbey School, Rosemary Walmsley of King Edward VI High School for Girls, Luke Griffiths of Bassaleg School and Caroline Harding of Tiffin Girls' School. The winners will receive an Olympus L-5 recorder and a year's subscription to BBC History  Magazine, plus a year's corporate membership of the Historical Association for their schools.

Runners-up will each receive a magazine subscription and a Historical Association goody bag. The two winning entries will also shortly be broadcast on the History Extra podcast, while the short-listed entries can be heard here...