INTERFACE Student Minecraft Competition 2025

Thanks to everyone who entered this year’s competition. Your creations have been awesome and we’re now busy judging each of the three categories.

Look out for the results in the November INTERFACE magazine, publishing on Wednesday 12 November.

Entries are already coming in for this year’s INTERFACE Student Minecraft Competition. The closing date is Friday 19 September (the end of Term 3), so there’s still time to get your blocks moving.

Once again, we’ve teamed up with the Marine Stewardship Council and have a new assignment for our young Minecrafters to tackle.

The Challenge: ‘Sustainable Seas’

The year’s competition is entitled ‘Sustainable Seas’ and the goal is to build an environment that protects fish, keeps fishing sustainable and ensures clean and pollution-free seas that are full of marine life. Come up with the design within our guidelines below, construct it in Minecraft, record a short, 3-minute video tour, and submit your entry.

What to include in your world:

  • A small fishing village, harbour or dock from where people catch fish sustainably and responsibly;
  • A healthy ocean, with coral reefs, seaweed and plenty of fish;
  • A managed fishing area, where fish are caught sustainably;
  • Practices to ensure unpolluted waters that are clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.

Entries are now open!

Guidelines

Ensure the environment you create is sustainable and using best practices by following the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fisheries Standard (msc.org/standards-and-certification/fisheries-standard). This is used to assess if a fishery is well-managed and sustainable, and reflects the most up-to-date understanding of internationally accepted fisheries science and management.

The three principles of the Standard are:

  • Sustainable fish stocks
  • Minimising impacts of fishing
  • Effective fisheries management

Prizes

Winning entries will receive some awesome prizes, including John West products, a Virtual Penguin Encounter and virtual presentation by industry expert.

Entry details

There are three age categories to choose from:

  • Primary (Years 1-6);
  • Intermediate (Years 7-8); and
  • Secondary (Years 9+).

Entries close end of Term 3 (Friday 19 September, 2025).  The winners will be announced in our November magazine on Wednesday 12 November.

How to enter

STEP 1: Talk through the competition challenge with your student(s). Discuss the guidelines for your ‘Sustainable Seas’ habitat and how these aims can be achieved. Research the needs, methods and goals of sustainable fishing. Determine the design and management requirements, and how the entry can be constructed in Minecraft. 

STEP 2: Create the entry in Minecraft and complete the entry form. You will need to write a short explanation of your environment and how it meets the requirements, and record a video of the creation (please keep videos to no longer than 3 minutes).

Entries will judged out of 100 points, based on the following criteria:

  • Creativity of the environment design (40 points)
  • Effectiveness of the design to meet the goals of ‘Sustainable Seas’ (30pts)
  • Appropriate use of materials (15 points)
  • Accuracy and neatness of construction (15 points)

All entries require both teacher and student details – incomplete entries will not be accepted. Please submit one form per entry. Entries can be from individuals or groups (up to four students) and must include all students’ names. You can enter more than once but a separate entry must be made for each.

Access to videos: Please ensure we are able to watch your videos, especially if they are stored on school networks.

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

Thanks to the Marine Stewardship Council for supporting this year’s INTERFACE Student Minecraft Competition.

Expert help and advice

The Marine Stewardship Council’s Rika Milne is available to provide information and advice about the Fisheries Standard and the organisation’s teaching resources. She can be contacted at rika.milne@msc.org

Rika has also prepared resources specifically to help you with the competition. They are can found here.

Also, if you are interested in ocean themed teaching resources, sign up to the MSC’s teacher newsletter.

Big Blue Future New Zealand

Big Blue Future New Zealand is an initiative to build support for sustainable fishing and promote ocean literacy. Learn about ocean literacy with MSC’s Te Kawa O Tangaroa teaching resources – an ocean-centred learning programme focused on solutions to overfishing and how we can keep our ocean teeming with life.

The Five Domains

For some help, advice and inspiration, check out the Five Domains Model, a science-based structure for assessing animal welfare. It provides a best-practice framework to assess welfare in animals of all species and is used by all ZAA-accredited zoos and aquariums to assess animal welfare.

Entry Form 2025

Entries are now closed.

Meet last year’s winners

Check out last year’s winning entries at interfaceonline.co.nz/2024/11/06/minecraftwinners2024/

PLEASE NOTE: This competition is open only to students at New Zealand schools (including home schooled) and is subject to our terms and conditions (interfaceonline.co.nz/terms-and-conditions/).

DISCLAIMER: We treat all personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

INTERFACE February 2025