By Daniel Hunter

Three inventive youngsters from Scotland and England today (Tuesday) scooped the national prize for the Cracking Ideas 2011 competition run by the Intellectual Property Office in collaboration with Aardman Animations, the creators of Wallace & Gromit.

The Cracking Ideas competition asked entrants to come up with a sporty creation and to highlight the four types of intellectual property created — an invention or gadget; the design of the product; a name or logo to trade mark and a copyrighted advertising campaign.

Baroness Wilcox, Minister for Intellectual Property, awarded the national winners and 14 regional winners for their creativity and inventions in a ceremony at the Liverpool Spaceport.

The UK winners are:

- Jessica Williamson, aged eight of Stewarton, Scotland invented Wallace & Gromit style ‘Wrong Trousers’ lace-up football boots, with a spring sole contraption to assist with goal-scoring.

- BritneyAnn Guest, aged 11 of Kidderminster, England designed ‘Mini Flatleys’ dancing shoes with a free lucky charm bracelet for greater performance and comfort.

- Elliot Comnene, aged 13 of Bonnyrigg, Scotland created the ‘Footie ChairSpring-O-Matic’ to help wheelchair users develop their football skills.
The three were each presented with an original trophy created by Nick Park’s Aardman Animation studio. Each regional finalist also received a board game, animation software, DVD and a book signed by Nick Park.

The national winners saw off tough competition from more than 4,000 entrants. The competition is part of the Intellectual Property Office’s Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Ideas campaign which aims to encourage innovation amongst school children.

“Congratulations to Jessica, BritneyAnn and Elliot and all the other winners recognised today. There was a fantastic range of entries showing how imaginative and innovative our children are," Baroness Wilcox said.

"It’s wonderful to see such imaginative thinking and creativity, because these children are the future and will shape this country’s continuing success and growth.”

Merlin Crossingham, Creative Director at Aardman Animations said:

“With the nation going sport mad this year, these inventions will help inspire athletes to use their minds as well as their bodies!

“As like last year, the range and originality of ideas was very high and made it very difficult to choose overall winners. It's refreshing to see so many great ideas from young people. Keep it up!”

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