Congratulations to musician Riley Cornelius whose original song "To Lose You" was selected as a finalist in the 2024 National Secondary School Songwriting Competition.

Riley entered his original song in the "Play It Strange" music competition where there were 383 song entries from high schools all over New Zealand. Judges Ladi6 and Mike Chunn reported they were "blown away by the quality of songwriting this year" and "the record breaking number of entries". A great achievement for Riley to be placed in the top 60 entries!

Riley's prize is a day at a professional recording studio to record his song.

Once all of the 60 songs have been professionally recorded, they will be released as albums on Spotify, Bandcamp and other digital platforms.

Another example of our exceptional and talented students at our beloved Opihi College.

Well done Riley!!