By JEREMY REES
Craig Campbell loves his little sister. He just can't stand the way she and friends burst into his room all the time and play with his toys.
So 10-year-old Craig invented a solution, the Door Net, designed to foil 4-year-old Georgia.
This week, the young inventor's brainwave won an award for the most commercially viable invention at the Young Inventionz competition, open to all South Island children.
The win was a huge boost to a little boy who has long struggled with his own problems. Diagnosed a few years ago with Attention Deficit Disorder, which made it hard for him to learn at school, he has learned by doing things practically.
Like inventing things.
His father, Tony Campbell, remembers the day Craig came to him and said he wanted to invent a sister trap.
"I laughed but then said, 'Okay, let's do it'."
"First, I made him draw it up on a bit of paper and he did.
"After that he hounded me to make it. He said he was sick of his sister barging into his room. And he was sick of her friends coming in, too. I thought it would be a good project for him."
He and his father made a prototype of the Door Net from recyclable materials they found in the shed. At first they experimented with a net that dropped from above, but that proved impractical.
The breakthrough came when a friend gave them a 2m roller from a roll-down blind and they tried it on its side with a see-through net spooled onto it.
The mesh is hooked onto the back of the door and unspools from the roller, which is attached to the door frame, when the door opens.
It means Craig can get out but Georgia cannot get in. She can, however, talk through the mesh and can't hurt herself.
Craig was determined to enter his invention when his teacher at Springhill School, an alternative school for children with learning difficulties, told the class about the inventors' competition.
He and his father, a butcher and part-time taxi driver, set to work building a scale model.
The organiser of the Inventionz competition, Gwen Sanders, described the impact of Craig's invention on the judges.
"His entry just stood out. It was brilliant and it was funny. There's a lot of kids out there who could relate to it. It's a winner. He said he'd be back next year. He's already working on a few ideas."
After winning the $75 book token for his scale model, Craig and his father are working on the final version for the bedroom at home.
Tony Campbell said his son had been encouraged to invent things and make things with his hands to beat his ADD.
"A few years ago when he was at a normal school he was withdrawn. He never took part in things. Now he's going to a school where they encourage learning through play and doing. He's a different kid now.
"He loves inventing things. He wants to make things all the time.
And sister, Georgia? How does she take being the subject of a sister trap? "She doesn't really know. At the moment she's having her photo taken all the time with the invention so she's happy at all the attention."
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