Thanks to everyone who entered this year’s Minecraft competition – and to MOTAT for its support. The challenge was to design and build a ‘Machine’ and the response was amazing.

From rockets and rollercoaster, to computers and car, we received some awesome creations. It wasn’t easy but we’ve made our selections and the winners of the Minecraft ‘Make a Machine’ Student Competition 2019 are …

Primary (Years 1-6)

WINNER: Julian Langbein, Campbells Bay School, Auckland
Winning machine: Cuckoo Clock
Judge’s comment: “Not only was this well explained but the complexity of the build behind the clock was amazing. An excellent design and build.”

Second: Dante Stanger, Richmond Primary School, Nelson
Third: Rijul Angurala, Mount Roskill School, Auckland

Intermediate (Years 7-8)

WINNER: Eli Jenkins, Waitoriki School, Inglewood
Winning machine: Boombox
Judge’s comment: “This is was an impressive and original creation. It was cleverly designed, with intricate musical workings that worked perfectly.”

Second: Dylan Simpson, Berkley Normal Middle School, Hamilton
Third: Ben Knopp and Hayden Phillips, John McGlashan College, Dunedin

Secondary (Years 9+)

Winner: Luca Gemmell-Taylor, Marshall Den-Boer, Jake Williamson, and Thomas Franklin, Te Aroha College, Waikato
Winning machine: D.M.S (Delivering Material System)
Judge’s comment: “A fun and well-constructed machine. Clearly lots of thought and skill went into the design and build process.”

Second: Ella Hutcheson, Westlake Girls’ High School, Auckland
Third: Sean Winch, Te Kura (The Correspondence School)

Winners’ prizes

Congratulations to our winners. The Primary category winner receives a Meccano Meccanoid G15 Ks Personal Robot. The Intermediate and Secondary category winners receive ‘The Big Engineering Makerspace’. All prizes are courtesy of MOTAT.