The dedication students have shown in all areas of the creative arts has resulted in success at all levels.

All the awards acknowledge work beyond the academic curriculum and we also acknowledge the tremendous contribution of dedicated staff who coach groups and encourage individuals to achieve at the very highest level.

Sheila Winn Shakespeare Festival – regional finals

• Sabine Messer-Goodall and Emily Young: Best Communication Between Two Actors for their ‘Othello’ excerpt  – and they were selected for the national finals.
• 1st: Amanda Yu for Costume Design – Supreme Winner and Gold Award
• 1st: Scout Challinor for Poster Design
• 2nd: Bowie Wang for Poster Design
• 3rd: Alice Lott for Poster Design
• 2nd: Bonnie Fitzgerald for Static Image
• 3rd: Lucy Van Zoggel for Critical Essay

Visual Arts Competitions

• Hayley Liu: placed second at the national children’s map competition and represented New Zealand in the International Cartographic competition in Cape Town. She was awarded first place and a Gold Award at the International Autumn world drawing and colouring competition. She also won the Ernst Young Award for her “Cabinet of Curiosity”, which was exhibited at Upper Harbour Youth Council’s Art Exhibition this year.
• Leer Mao: Leer was selected as a finalist for the Arts House Trust Secondary School Art Awards which recognise and celebrate emerging talent in New Zealand. She was also a finalist in the Waikato Society of Arts National Youth Awards this year.

Hip Hop 

• Dio Mega Crew: second place at Project 2024 nationals, Best Choreography award at the ‘FOMAC’ competition in Central Auckland, and third place in the Mega Schools division.
• AIMS Crew: fifth place at Project 2024 nationals, third place at the ‘FOMAC’ competition in Central Auckland, and first place in the Intermediate Schools division. They also proudly took home first place at the Dance NZ Made competition, and placed fourth at the AIMS tournament.

Instrumental Achievements 

KBB Festival

• Dio had 7 awards presented, and Chamber Orchestra were selected to perform at the Gala Concert.
• Dio Symphony Orchestra – Silver – Hannah Wellington, Casey Lam
• Dio Chamber Orchestra – Gold and Most Outstanding Performance Award – May Wang
• Dio/Dilworth Concert Band – Silver (Grace Hegley)
• Dio/Dilworth Big Band – Silver (Catarina Young)
• ConcorDio Intermediate Strings – Bronze (Adalyn Tao and Xinzi Yang)
• Dio Intermediate Wind Band – Highly Commended Award (Elizabeth Flint)

NZCT Chamber Music National Finals

• Ella Zhang performed in two groups which went through to National finals, the Chiron Junior Trio and the Debussy Trio, with Angel Tao in Y9. Between them they won the Junior Award, Adjudicators Award, Highly Commended Awards, first place at Regionals and National Finalist Awards. Ella gained the highest marks for her LTCL Diploma last year and also won second place in the Australian Flute Competition.
• Angel Tao gained the highest mark this year for her LTCL Diploma, and it has just been announced that she is a finalist in the National Piano and String competition for under 25’s – this is a huge accolade for such a young player.

Choral Achievements

NZCF Big Sing competition

At the Regionals of the NZCF Big Sing competition:

• St Cecilia Singers were awarded Distinction and were selected for National Finale where they received a Silver Award
• Bella Cantoris were awarded Commended and won the Runner-up Junior Award.

Kids Sing competition

• Year 7 and Year 8 choir, Virtuoso Voce, were awarded three awards this year – Gold Award, Best Performance of the Test Piece, and the Adjudicators Award for the Most Engaging performance.

Arts Council Award Star Award for 2023 –  Alex Wilson

Presentation of Cups

Cups are presented to girls with an exemplary level of commitment, ability and participation.

Bayleys Staff Award – Mr Camryn Nel

Mannion Speech and Drama Cup ­- Maya Gao

Diocesan Dance Cup for excellence in Choreography and Performance  – Sophie Dillon Price and Madeleine Walker

Diocesan Instrumental Cup for long-term loyalty and leadership  – Hannah Wellington

Auctioneering Cup – Edith Li

 Penny Macdonald Award for Excellence in Debating  – Lucy Kilgour and Zara Tucker

 Kapa Haka Award  – Evie Iles

Jean Gallagher Cup for Commitment to Instrumental Music  – Casey Lam

Terri Crouch Cup for the Most Promising Vocalist  – Grace Hegley 

McCabe Cup for Excellence in Music  – Catarina Young

Hazel Kinder Cup for the Most Committed Choristers – Amanda Yu and Priya Wilson

Sandy O’Brien Cup for Excellence in Drama – Sabine Messer-Goodall 

Imogen Wells Award for showing all-round Excellence in the Arts- Ella Cochrane

Averill Award for Services to the Performing Arts – Alex Wilson and Emma Imrutai 

The David Gordon Cup for Excellence and Commitment – Hannah Wellington

The Rosey Eady Cup for a ‘special individual who will make a difference’ – Amanda Yu

Congratulations to all our award winners and to each and every girl who has contributed to making 2024 such a fantastic year.