A 17-year-old Far North guitarist has won a national award in New Zealand's top contest for high school musicians.
Micah van der Touw, a Year 13 student at Kerikeri High School, was presented with the MAINZ Musicianship Award at the Smokefreerockquest national finals in Auckland on Saturday night.
Worth $4800, the prize will give Micah a year's free tuition at the Auckland-based Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand.
Dubbed "Half man-half guitar" by his tutors, Micah won the musicianship award in the inaugural Far North Smokefreerockquest held at Kerikeri's Turner Centre in June. That put him in the running, along with the top musicians in 22 other regional finals, for the national prize.
Smokefreerockquest director Glenn Common said Micah's playing would stand out anywhere in the world. "The level of his playing is unbelievable. I still can't quite see how he can do it at his age. It's not just his technical skill, it's the emotive side of his playing too," Mr Common said.