Our colleges shine at Stage Challenge

Students from three Wairarapa colleges walked away winners after competing in the 2013 Wellington regional Stage Challenge.

Wairarapa College took third place at the annual event, held at the TSB Arena in Wellington on Friday, and also won a clutch of awards alongside students from Makoura College and Kuranui College.

Wairarapa College had fielded a team of 120 students and a theme of Africa - A Land Lost. The team also won an Award of Excellence for Performance Skill, Award of Excellence for Set, Design and Function, Award of Excellence for Costuming Character, Award of excellence for Visual Enhancement, Award of Excellence for Stage Crew, and an Award of Excellence for Lighting Design.

Teacher in charge Kathryn Houliston said taking third place and the lion's share of the awards were a well-deserved reward for the team, staff and parents who had been involved since the three-nights-a-week rehearsals started in February.

The team took first place last year ahead of St Mary's and had annually placed in the top three at the regional contest since she took on the role of teacher in charge eight years ago.

Kuranui College, which fielded a team of 60 dancers and had a theme about teenagers' obsessions with technology, won an Award of Excellence for School Initiative, Award of Excellence for Costuming Character, Award of Excellence for Set, Design and Function, and an Award of Excellence for Drama.

Makoura College, had a team of almost 70, a theme on personal identity and took home an Award of Excellence for Environmental or Social Awareness and an Award of Excellence for Costuming Character for their performance entitled Toybox, which focused on a character struggling with personal identity and a place in the world.

Deputy principal Kellas Bennett said staff and parents had worked long hours to help the performers prepare.

"Hopefully, we'll go on to even bigger and better things next year," he said.

St Mary's College won the open division of the contest and Chilton St James School won second place.