He Kärere ki te whänau

2017 Pikihuia Awards finalists announced

8 Aug 2017

After much anticipation, the finalists for the 2017 Pikihuia Awards for Mäori Writers have been announced.

Over 130 entries were received from around Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas and the judges have whittled the number down to 24 finalists.

Writer Whiti Hereaka judged the Best Short Story written in English and was impressed with the standard of writing. ‘It was a pleasure to judge this year's Pikihuia Award for Short Stories in English’ she said. ‘I was impressed by the diversity of the stories, reflecting the many experiences of being Mäori in our society. The stand out stories for me subverted my expectations: unexpected points of view, or twists on familiar story lines.’

For Poia Rewi, the judge of the Best Short Story written in Mäori, the expansive nature of the stories along with the authors' language proficiency was striking. ‘From the interpretation of dreams to earthquake experiences, rugby world cup to rugby on the marae ätea, Iron Mäori to Mäori emigration and repatriation, boarding school and disobedience to mythical kaitiaki, there is diversity and creativity across the board’ he said. ‘The level of Mäori Language proficiency is admirable and likewise, the application of dialect, synonym and metaphor are also worth noting – we compliment the authors, their whänau and their teachers, and Huia for affording the opportunity to writers to engage their literary potential.’

Link here to full list of finalists: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/book-news/awardsresidencies/2017-pikihuia-awards-finalists-announced

Stories from selected finalists will feature in the latest short story book HUIA Short Stories 12. The book will be launched and the winners will be announced at the 2017 Pikihuia Awards to be held at Te Wharewaka ō Poneke, Wellington on Saturday 9 September 2017.

Otago Girls' High School is delighted to announce that Lucy Matehaere (Ngäti Raukawa ki Waikato) is once again a finalist in the category Best short story written by a school student in English, judged by Robyn and Brian Bargh, for her work entitled The Final Cut. Kei runga noa atu koe, e hine!

Wairua Pühou

NZQA visiting expert Te Hira Paenga sat in with the judging panel at the recent Hautoka Secondary Schools' Competition to assess our kapa haka in Mäori Performing Arts. I am very proud to announce that the students all qualified with Excellence for the Level 3 Performance of a bracket, achieving 10 credits. This is a huge accomplishment and well deserved after all the hard work perfecting skills.

Students also achieved the demonstration elements of a number of Level 2 standards based on individual items. Matua Mac and I are making a plan for any students who wish to complete the theoretical part of these standards and will share further information by pänui.

NZ International Film Festival

This is of particular interest to Mäori and Pasifika students and those studying te reo Mäori, however all students are welcome as long as they have cleared it with their subject teacher. We are planning two staffed trips, with whänau welcome to attend:

Ngä Whanaunga Mäori and Pasifika Shorts

at 2pm on Friday 18 at 2 pm at Rialto in English, Mäori, NZ Sign Language and Tongan (90 minutes long) $10

https://www.nziff.co.nz/2017/dunedin/nga-whanaunga-maori-pasifika-shorts-2017/

Waru screens after school on Tuesday 22 August at 3:45pm at Rialto (88 minutes) $10

Eight Mäori female directors have each contributed a sequence to this powerful and challenging feature which unfolds around the tangi of a small boy who died at the hands of his caregiver. Excellent reviews have been received about this film which deals with child abuse, culture, media reporting and shame told from the perspective of Mäori women. The directors will be in attendance for a Q+A following the screening. https://www.nziff.co.nz/2017/dunedin/waru/

N.B. Whänau please be aware that these films are rated M (open to all but suitable for older audiences as they contain challenging subject matter). I have seen the shorts already myself. Other colleagues have seen Waru and we think that both sessions are well worth our students’ viewing. Permission slips are available outside the office. Names can be added to the list at the office along with permission slip and $10 for each session until next Wednesday 16th August. If money is an issue, please see me.

Year 10 Whakahou Mätauranga University Programme

This is an eight week mentoring programme in conjunction with the University of Otago for selected Year 10 students who have a weekly session at University. These range from PE school, Chemistry, Zoology, Anatomy Museum, Robotics, Food Science and Tech, Hocken Library, Aquarium and Water Safety, Unipol, Music Dept etc. Students then attend the Mäori Centre for tutoring to help prepare for end of year exams.

Scholarships for Mäori secondary students are listed at https://www.maorieducation.org.nz/index.php/secondary .

Ngäi Tahu Scholarships and opportunities for youth can be found here:

http://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/whanau/opportunities/te-kakano-13-17-yrs/#3

Whenua Kura is an iwi-led partnership between Ngäi Tahu, Te Tapuae o Rehua, Ngäi Tahu Farming and Lincoln University that helps Mäori to establish careers in land-based industry. Applications will shortly open for certificate and diploma courses (from Level 3 to Level 6), starting in February 2018.

Whenua Kura provides the learning environment for Mäori to learn best-practice farming in a supportive and fun environment that will lead to a globally recognised qualification and an exciting career in the primary industries.

For more information visit www.whenuakura.co.nz/our-programmes

Te Karaka - The latest copy is downloadable here: http://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/te-karaka/

PHD research project looking for Maori Women aged 30-50

“Does mindfulness help regulate the body's response to stress?”

We are using a range of questionnaires and saliva tests to measure participants' stress hormones and to test the theory that mindfulness will have positive impacts for Maori females who've been under a lot of stress between the ages of 30 and 50.

If participants complete the research, not only do they get all the benefits of a free eight week mindfulness course and the practice it brings, but we'll also throw in $150.00.

The course is set to start on Thursday 21 September this year and will run for two hours every Thursday night until November 9 - eight nights in total plus one weekend day (28 October). There is also a stress test that needs to be done before and after the course, which will require about one hour of time. There is some flexibility with the timing of the stress test, but it needs to happen on a weekend.

I would be very grateful if you could pass the message on to anybody that you know who might be interested/willing to take part.

For more information or to apply to participate contact Miriama Ketu miriamaketu@gmail.com

Mauri ora!

Joe Hunter, Dean of Mäori students

Please contact me for help or further information, or if you have news to share

joe.hunter@otagogirls.school.nz  027 222 1073