The IPO reveals Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Ideas competition winners 2022

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and Aardman are delighted to announce the winners of the 2022 ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Ideas’ competition.

The competition challenges youngsters to come up with an invention, support the awareness and understanding of IP rights through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects for Key Stages 1 and 2 (ages 4 – 11 years).

Entrants to the 2022 competition were challenged to answer ‘How should we be travelling in the future whilst considering the natural environment?’ Children were encouraged to take inspiration from Wallace & Gromit’s iconic inventions and consider how the design could be both fun and sustainable.

The competition saw a wonderful 1,126 entries, making it especially difficult for the judges to pick the ultimate winners from such a remarkable and inventive array.

The winning entry in the Key Stage 1 category was a design from Emily Benson from Cosby Primary in Leicestershire for the ‘Cheese Mobile’; powered by sustainable resources and constructed from cheese, it’s a cracking invention that caught the eyes of Wallace and Gromit. The runner up in this category with the creation of the ‘Super Springy’ boots was Minnie-Jay Williams from New Invention Junior School in Willenhall; special features of the boots include a cheese and water spray, handy for when you are thirsty or hungry on the go.

In the Key Stage 2 category, the winning entry was ‘The Moon Rider’ from Evie-Moon Cleary at Westcliffe Primary School, Scunthorpe; a litter collecting boat that is powered by the wind, sea, and sun, a great use of renewable natural resources. The runner-up in this category was ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Tea Wagon’ from Jasmine Jayde Chin at Ysgol Nantgwyn, Tonypandy; the wagon has an offering of any type of tea you desire and is powered by used teabags. An inventive way to reuse the teabags that would have gone to waste.

Running alongside this year’s challenge we had ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Tour of Innovation’. Travelling a mile around the UK for each competition entry received, Wallace & Gromit discovered innovations of the past and future. We can announce that the school that sent the duo the furthest is Cosby Primary in Leicestershire, a cracking total of 239 miles, congratulations.

The Intellectual Property Office’s Chief Executive Tim Moss said:

Our Wallace and Gromit Cracking Ideas Competition continues to show how young people have the gift of imagination without limits, as the wealth of inspiring and imaginative entries demonstrate every year.

It’s great to see that the competition is helping the next generation of creators and innovators understand the importance of protecting their original ideas. I would like to thank the teachers, parents, and helpers for encouraging the entrants and helping them grow their understanding of intellectual property as an asset for life. Encouraging and educating young people about the importance of IP will help build on the UK’s proud history of creativity and innovation, helping secure their future and make life better for all.

Emily Jones, Brand Manager at Aardman, said:

It was a joy to see all of the fantastic inventions from more young creative minds this year. We were blown away by the oodles of creativity, ideas and inspiration taken from Wallace & Gromit, from tea powered engines to cheesy vehicles! Well done to all who took part.

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 ideas@crackingideas.com.

Notes to Editors:

  • the Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Ideas campaign includes curriculum linked teacher resources for Key Stage 1 and 2, plus a competition

  • the project will support STEM curriculums as well as areas of English and numeracy at Key Stage 1 and 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, an employee-owned company, is 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 over 30 years. They are internationally celebrated, winning over 100 awards at festivals – including 3 Academy Awards® and 5 BAFTA® Awards

  • the studio runs the Aardman Academy which has a commitment to nurturing talent by delivering excellence in film and animation training and mentoring. The Aardman Academy offers a variety of courses from intensive one-day workshops teaching production skills and storyboarding, to comprehensive twelve-week courses for professionals in craft based subjects from model making to animation

  • in November 2018 it became an Employee Owned Organisation, to ensure Aardman remains independent and to secure the creative legacy and culture of the company for many decades to come