Congratulations to everyone who entered our School Essay Competition!
We received nearly 1000 essays from young New Zealanders across the competition’s three age groups. The standard of entries was extremely high.
Our judges, NZ On Air Board member Edie Moke and Unitec Senior Lecturer Peter Thompson, say they had a very difficult job picking a top essay in each of the three age-groups.
We are pleased to announce they have selected the following winners:
Year 7-9: Milika Tuinukuafe, St Mary’s College, Ponsonby
“I believe it’s essential to see New Zealand programmes on television. They give us a chance to enjoy what’s special about our country – our different peoples and our Kiwi culture.” (Excerpt from Milika’s essay)
To read Milika's essay in full, click on this PDF link:
Milika's Winning Essay [PDF DOWNLOAD 12KB]
Year 10-11: Jehan Casinader, Hutt International Boys’ School, Upper Hutt
“When we inject that burst of Kiwiana; that dash of Aotearoa’s identity into even the most culturally-generic of formats like Idol, we make them distinctly New Zealand..” (Excerpt from Jehan’s essay)
To read Jehan's essay in full, click on this PDF link:
Jehan's Winning Essay [PDF DOWNLOAD 15KB]
Year 12-13: Rachael Amundsen, Waimea College, Nelson
“Therefore, it is fundamentally important that this adopted community [television] provides and promotes people who hold the same values as the society its audience belongs to. We need more New Zealand television with New Zealander’s values if we want subsequent generations to embrace these values.” (Excerpt from Rachael’s essay)
To read Rachael's essay in full, click on this PDF link:
Rachael's Winning Essay [PDF DOWNLOAD 14KB]
Milika, Jehan and Rachael each win a behind-the-scenes tour of a NZ-made programme. They have also attended a prize giving ceremony in Wellington with the Broadcasting Minister, Hon Steve Maharey, which took place on 3 August.
We have also selected a small number of essays which we will use in our promotional material, for example in our media releases, on our website, and possibly in future materials such as our annual report.
Many entrants gave valuable input about programmes they watch. We are summarising the feedback from all competition entrants and will pass it on to the programmes’ producers. We are also using the input to contribute to our policy development.
Once again, thank you to everybody for your entries. Keep up the good work!
