With over 180 entries received from home and abroad, the judges were faced with the difficult task of choosing the winners!
Find out who the lucky winners of each age category were, each taking home a prize package of Shakespeare and Minecraft goodies worth £400, which also includes an iPad Air 2 courtesy of New Place contractors, Splitlath Building Conservation Ltd.
Winners
Under 11’s: Beatrice Baldwin, age 11, Alcester
‘I have been playing Minecraft for a couple of years now and really enjoy being creative. I came to a workshop at Shakespeare's Birthplace with school recently and was really interested in Shakespeare's plays, particularly the Tempest so I decided to enter the competition. Thank you very much for choosing my design, I'm really pleased I won.’
12 – 16 yr olds: Xanthe Priest, age 12, Stratford-upon-Avon
‘My mum told me about the competition having spotted it on social media and encouraged me to enter. I was already learning Shakespeare at school, and love playing Minecraft so thought I would have a go. It took me 2 weeks to design and I’m so happy to have won. The prizes are fantastic and I shall have fun playing with the iPad over the Christmas holidays.’
Over 16's: Patrick Eves, age 20, Stratford-upon-Avon
‘Thanks a lot for the good news!! I’ve had my fingers crossed ever since I sent my entry in – the amount of time and effort put into all the entries is amazing!’
Judging Panel
Lead Judge: Design Professor Chris Wise
Designer of the re-imagined Shakespeare's New Place
'The standard of design of the entrants was exceptional. It was clear that people had spent a lot of time developing their ideas of how New Place may have appeared in Shakespeare’s time or could look in modern times. Some were very traditional made from wood and brick, others had more modern facilities. The youngest entrant was just five years old and he designed a beautifully simple but comfortable looking home. They were all excellent and it was really hard job to choose the winners. In the end we went with entrants who had not only followed the footprint exactly but had given the appropriate importance to each element of the house. The winners had also included gardens, details of the living areas, Shakespeare quotes in the rooms, a windmill for a power source, just lots and lots of detail. They were a joy to look at and we had great fun going through them all.'
Julie Crawshaw
New Place Project Manager
'We knew Minecraft would be a brilliant accessible tool to get people of all ages to creatively engage and learn about Shakespeare's New Place. Entrants were invited to design their own virtual New Place, following the original footprint of the building which we know recent archaeological discoveries. We were delighted to see so many people enter, ranging from age 5 to 45, from as far as the USA and Serbia to Hull, Nottingham and Glamorgan; each and every one of them engaging with Shakespeare and his life at New Place to create some truly remarkable designs. They should be immensely proud.'