The IPO reveals Wallace & Gromit Cracking Ideas competition winners

The IPO and Aardman are delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 ‘Wallace and Gromit Cracking Ideas’ competition.

The competition challenges youngsters to come up with an invention, support the awareness and understanding of IP rights through STEM subjects for key stages 1 and 2 (ages 5 – 11 years).

Encouraging children to take inspiration from Wallace & Gromit’s iconic inventions, the 2021 competition set entrants the challenge to ‘make life better’, by building on everyday inventions to improve the lives of themselves, friends, family, or wider collective groups.

The competition saw a wonderful 1600 entries, making it especially difficult for the judges to pick the ultimate winners from such an impressive and creative array.

The winning entry in the Key Stage 1 category was a design from Sarah Mirkin from London for the ‘Happy Worker’ – all we need to help at home, in the garden and to find lost items. The runner up in this category was the ‘RC Case’ from Holly Parks at Highcliffe St. Mark Primary School, Dorset – a suitcase with a folding seat for long queues and comfort, and a remote control to navigate the airport.

In the Key Stage 2 category, the winning entry was ‘The Lit Bag’ from Freya Jones at Highcliffe St. Mark Primary School, Dorset, a bag that includes a small light, similar to what you find in a fridge, to make finding things in your bag a breeze! The runner-up in this category was the ‘Wing Suit’ from Lois Varnam at Cosby Primary School, Leicester run on solar power, it is designed for sustainable travel for you and your pets, and provides all you need for an entertaining and cosy journey.

The IPO’s Chief Executive, Tim Moss, said:

All the young people involved in the ‘Cracking Ideas’ competition deserve an enormous ‘well done’ from us. They can be extremely proud of their excellent and highly creative contributions, that really showcase the huge amount of talent our next generation of innovators has to offer.

To help build on the UK’s proud history of innovation and creativity, it’s essential that we reach out to future creators at an early age and impress upon them the importance of protecting their ideas and work. The competition does just that, in an fun, challenging and educational way – as we can see from the wealth of imaginative and innovative entries received this year.

Merlin Crossingham, competition judge and Creative Director of Wallace & Gromit at Aardman said:

These young creative minds have once again delighted me with their fun, bonkers and quite ingenious inventions. Judging was tricky as there were oodles of fabulous ideas and all the entries had merit, so thanks to all who took part and hats off to the winners. Cracking job everyone!

The Intellectual Property Office provides a series of education resources, competition and outreach to support innovation, creativity and intellectual property, including ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Ideas’. To find out more, you can get in touch with the IPO via [email protected].

Notes to Editors:

The Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Ideas campaign includes curriculum linked teacher resources for key stage one and two, plus a competition
the project will support STEM curriculums as well as areas of English and numeracy at key stages 1 to 2
the campaign is a flagship education programme for the IPO and contributes to ‘creating a world leading IP environment’, helping increase IP’s impact through awareness and education
Aardman, based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is an independent and multi-Academy Award® and BAFTA® award winning studio. It produces feature films, series, advertising, games and interactive entertainment
Wallace and Gromit, Aardman’s most loved and iconic duo, have been delighting family audiences around the world for 30 years. They are internationally celebrated, winning over 100 awards at festivals – including 3 Academy Awards® and 5 BAFTA® Awards