Amelia Irwin took the top individual award as three East Auckland schools collected 13 between them
A Botany Downs Secondary College student has been named star of the show at Showquest Auckland.
Year 13 student Amelia Irwin took the Whetu Rangatahi award on the senior day of the schools performance competition.
She was one of two lead dancers in her school’s entry, playing the older version of the central character.
Botany Downs performed “When We Were Young” at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre in the Aotea Centre on 11 June.
The ten-minute show was written and staged entirely by students, with Irwin joined by Tayla Penman-Gates and Ivy Liong as its creators.
The school said the performance explored “the bittersweet emotions of childhood nostalgia and the fear of growing up”.
Twenty-eight dancers took part, alongside a choir, a band and a lighting crew, after months of rehearsals.
The college did not place, but took three further awards, for dance, for live music performance and for video design.
Ormiston Senior College won both of the senior day’s whole-school awards, for school spirit and for public speaking.
The Flat Bush school’s entry, “Think Inside the Box”, followed a girl in a dystopian future in which imagination no longer exists.
Its description said the show was about “the invisible boxes society creates” and the courage it takes for young people to be heard.
Ormiston also took excellence awards for music composition and for video design, and a recognition award for drama.
Pakuranga Heights School finished third in the junior category on the third day of the Auckland event.
It won the excellence award for art, and recognition awards for its soundtrack, for culture and for lighting design.
Between them the three East Auckland schools collected 13 awards.
The senior day was won by Epsom Girls Grammar School, with Long Bay College second and St Cuthbert’s College and Orewa College equal third.
Ponsonby Intermediate won the junior day Pakuranga Heights competed in, with Glen Eden Intermediate second.
Showquest is run by Rockquest Promotions and is supported nationally by the Ministry of Education, Creative New Zealand, ZM, Rockshop, the Lotteries Board, World of WearableArt and Bernina.
Dargaville High School went on to win the senior national final, and Maidstone Intermediate the junior final.
