Rotorua's Minecraft champion brings ideas to life

Imagine a four-storey house complete with an enchanting room, laboratory, alchemy station, and a roof-top water slide transporting you to a dog kennel.

St Mary's Catholic School pupil Michael Kemp, 8, came up with this innovative structure winning Interface magazine's national Minecraft competition.

The magazine set the task of creating a structure in the game, based on accuracy and neatness of construction, complexity of design, and appropriate use of materials.

There were four categories, Year 1-4, Year 5-8, Year 9-13 and New Zealand Building.

Michael won the Year 1-4 category and walked away with a HP Action Cam for his efforts.

He said his favourite part about Minecraft was being able to come up with an idea and bring it to life.

"This house took me about two days to make and when I finished the main house, that's when I decided to create the dog kennel.

"The kennel is on an island which is why I made the water slide to get there."

Michael said he had been playing Minecraft since May when he was given the game for his birthday.

"I had lots of fun making it and next I want to create a house in the middle of the ocean. It would be pretty cool to live in a house like that when I grow up."

His mum, Kelley Kemp, said she was so proud of Michael's achievement.

"It absolutely blew my socks off when I found out he had won. I know children who have been playing Minecraft for much longer so for him to win, that was amazing."

Mrs Kemp said Minecraft was a brilliant learning tool for children.

"It's such a good tool to teach children with and the learning possibilities are truly boundless.

"I have really enjoyed the way Michael creates structures and then tells me about all the different stages he had to complete to get to that point."