The Diocesan Arts Awards were held on Tuesday 22 October in our School Hall.

This special night celebrates the achievement and dedication students have shown in all areas of the creative arts. The girls honoured represent the remarkable talent at this School. It has been another fantastic year with students achieving success at regional, national and international levels. All our arts awards are given as acknowledgement for work beyond the academic curriculum. We also acknowledge the tremendous contribution of our dedicated staff who coach groups and encourage individuals to achieve at the very highest level.

View a PowerPoint show of all our winners

Cups and Special Awards

Presented to girls with an exemplary level of commitment, ability and participation.

Sandy O’Brien Cup for Excellence in Drama Performance – Sadie Sumich
Diocesan Instrumental Cup for long-term loyalty and leadership – Jacqui Li
Jennifer Macdonald Cup for Contribution to Debating – Amy Somerfield & Lexi Preen
Jean Gallagher Cup for Commitment to Instrumental Music – Ling Hiu Sun
Celia Mannion Cup for Speech & Drama – Ella Carter
McCabe Cup for Contribution to School Music – Olivia Francis
Hazel Kinder Cup for the Most Committed Chorister – Doris Dong
Terri Crouch Award for Most Promising Vocalist in Year 12 – Hazel Francis
Imogen Wells Award – Emma Wong She
The Rosey Eady Cup for a special individual who makes a difference – Sharon Hung
The David Gordon Cup for Excellence and Commitment – Hannah Barber Wilson
The Averill Award for Services to the Performing Arts – Rebecca He & Jemma Lowe
Arts Council – Star Award for 2019 – Rebecca He

Recognition

Teachers Award has been generously donated by Sotheby’s International Realty, and was awarded to Suzanne Buswell for her contribution over many years to Future Problem Solving

MERIT AWARDS

Merit Awards are presented to students showing a high level of participation and personal commitment to the activity concerned, representing the School through service and achievement.

In SPEECH & DRAMA
Amy Choi

In KAPA HAKA
Halle Gravatt

In EVENTS MANAGEMENT
Summer Edwards
Jemma Lowe
Sophie Torrington
Elena Wood

In VISUAL ARTS – PHOTOGRAPHY and DVC
Hilary Armstrong

In SOUND & LIGHTING – Production
Grace David
Amelia Griffiths
Sabreen Islam

In CHINESE DANCE
Ling Hui Sun (leader)
Doris Dong
Anastasia Li
Emma Qiu

In DANCE
Sinead Pawlick

In AUCTIONEERING
Anisha de Silva
Kiara Selvaratnam
Sophia Souloglou

In MUSIC – HANDBELLS
Anneke Cummack
Abby Holden

In PERFORMING ARTS – 2019 Dio/Dilwoth senior production ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Emily Clelland (Assistant Director)
Emma Wong-She (Dance captain and Assistant Choreographer)
Courtney Elliot (Head of Backstage)
Dilynne Muller (Assistant Producer)

Cast
Lucy Bartlett
Jemima Box
Anna Casey
Amy Choi
Isabella Cossey
Jemma Couillault
Anisha de Silva
Hannah Flacks
Hazel Francis
Olivia Francis
Holly Graney
Halle Gravatt
Sophia Jones
Rosie Leishman
Phebe Mason
Holly Meyers
Natasha Mori
Pippa Morris
Rina Nair
Olivia Pearce
Grace Riley
Ellie Smith
Sophia Souloglou
Kiara Svelveratnam
Asia Tempero
Melissa Uren
Kate Wellington
Zoe Zhu

Production Band
Jessica Woo (Leader)
Rebecca He
Sharon Hung
Hannah Barber-Wilson
Helen Kim
Jessica Marshall
Matilda Hol
Doris Dong

DISTINCTON AWARDS

Distinction Awards are presented to students who stand out amongst their peers and exhibit an excellent level of commitment, ability and personal achievement. They will have performed with distinction in public, at a regional or national competition against senior students in other schools; and are judged to be of a standard equivalent to that of the best students in secondary schools throughout New Zealand.

In HIP HOP
Our Senior Hip Hop Crew competed in the Eutopia Dance Competition and were placed first in their category. They were also the highest scoring school team and were once again awarded a bid to compete in the Global Games in Hawaii in 2021. National Schools Hip Hop Competition; placing 2nd after the first round and 3rd overall for the Megacrews.

Emma Badger
Emily Bashford
Jessy Berman
Rosie Boisen
Imogen Bowkett
Adriana Cato-Symonds
Maddison Coldham
Dayna Cornwell
Polly Davies
Georgia Dunn
Cassie Gray
Sienna Gray
Mackenzie Houghton-Lamb
Julia Henderson
Jessica Hunter
Charlotte Kittle
Ruby Ngan Kee
Ondine Payne
Gemma Seymour
Asia Tempero
Meg Wallace

In MEDIA – for FILM MAKING & DIGITAL DESIGN – 48 Hour film project.
Victoria Wallis

In DEBATING – Junior Premiere Team won at regionals
Jemima Box
Phebe Mason
Shania Kumar
Amelie Thomas

In LITERATURE – for national publication in ReDraft,
Ananya Ahuwalia

In DRAMA – Performing in a professional production of ‘Wolves’ at the Q Theatre
Tiani Keane

EVENTS MANAGEMENT
Grace David
Rebecca He
Sabreen Islam
Emma Wong-She

In DRAMA – Actor and Director awards at Auckland One Act Play Festival
Cindy Bu
Ella Carter
Emily Clelland
Hannah Flacks
Hazel Francis
Sadie Sumich

In VISUAL ARTS –Fine Arts/Photography/Design
Livvy Herkt
Shellie Hu
Anastasia Li
Dianne Ma
Olivia Wong

In COSTUME DESIGN – Highly Commended awards the National Shakespeare Festival
Jemima Box
Phebe Mason

In CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AND SONGWRITING – Rockquest
Gracie Scragg – Best Lyrics Award at regionals
Grace David – National finalist at the Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition

In INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC – Gold and Silver award-winning Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Concert Band.

For Symphony Orchestra and/or Chamber Orchestra
Serena Bhindi
Janet Ha
Jasmine Ha
Grace Lin
Bonnie Liu
Dianne Ma
Kaitlyn Mellon
Holly Meyers
Charlotte Paterson
Kate Wellington
Jessica Woo
Sarah Young

For Symphony Orchestra and/or Concert Band
Jemma Couillault
Teresa Gu
Deborah Huang
Priscilla Huang
Rachel Lui
Jessica Marshall
Vien Ngatai
Olivia Pearce
Ling Hui Sun
Olivia Wong

In CHORAL MUSIC – Silver Award for St Cecilia Singers National Finals of Big Sing

Lucy Bartlett
Phoebe Chow
Summer Edwards
Lauren Komie
Rosie Leishman
Jemma Lowe
Phebe Mason
Holly Meyers
Rina Nair
Olivia Pearce
Emily Paramore
Grace Riley
Kiara Selvaratnam
Sophia Souloglou

In DEBATING – Dio Advanced Premiere Team, and for selection to the Auckland Regional Development Squad
Deborah Huang
Lexi Preen
Amy Somerfield
Jessica Woo

In CONTEMPORARY DANCE & CHOREOGRAPHY
Polly Davis
Jessy Berman

In POETRY & PROSE – for publication of her own poetry anthology ‘Spring Clean’
Sabreen Islam

BLUE AWARDS

Diocesan Blue Awards are presented to outstanding students who have achieved at a national or international level. It is the top award for recognition of students selected to represent NZ in a team, ensemble or who have achieved top individual results at a national or international level.

TEAM BLUE – Combined Instrumental, & Choral
The following girls are Grade 8 or above in their instruments, chamber musicians and singers involved at the top level for secondary students in the country. They have won awards in a combination of chamber orchestra, symphony orchestra, concert band and/or St Cecilia Singers – for some girls it is their 8th Gold in these combinations over 5 years.
Jacqui Li
Anna Casey
Olivia Francis
Rebecca He
Hannah Barber Wilson
Matilda Hol
Doris Dong
Emma Wong She
Emma Qiu

TEAM BLUE – FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVING – Winners of Middle Division competition at National Finals, International Finalists at University of Massachutsetts, USA
Sarah Young
Ava Phillimore
Lara John
Priscilla Huang

TEAM BLUE – NZ Secondary Students Choir
Chielin Xu
Hazel Francis
Hannah Flacks
Charlie Collard

TEAM BLUE – DRAMA ‘Most Outstanding Student Directed Music/Song’ Award at SGCNZ Shakespeare Festival national finals for performance of Henry IV Part I
Rosie Leishman
Melissa Uren
Phebe Mason – ‘Most Extraordinary Performance’ trophy at the SGCNZ national finals

ATCL DIPLOMA
International award – Associate of Trinity College London examining body
Zoe Zhu – Music
Emma Qiu -Music
Molly Crawford -Speech & Drama
Ella Carter – Speech & Drama
Olivia Luxon – Speech & Drama

PACANZ National Young Performers Award (2nd Place)
Helen Kim

AUCTIONEERING – National Real Estate Auctioneering School Champion
Pippa Morris

DANCE
Imogen Bowkett
At Dancelife Unite National Finals in Sydney at the end of last year she was over-all champion in Lyrical for her age, won Platinum Gold at the showcase Nationals for contemporary and lyrical solos and was a member of the highest scoring team in the open category. This year Imogen has placed first in nearly every regional dance competition throughout NZ– achieving the highest scoring senior soloist across 4 categories – Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary and Open, qualifying her for the EvoLite Australasian Finals once again in Sydney in January 2020.

Cassie Gray
Cassie is a rising star in the NZ Hip Hop scene. This year alone she has had 8 first placing over 5 regional competitions – including Jazz, contemporary, lyrical and improvised solos. She has received a return scholarship at a national Dance convention, her Hip Hop troupe have qualified for the Global Games in 2020 and at the Hip Hop International NZ Nationals her Mega crew and 9 man crew were placed 5th competing against crews from around the Asia Pacific region. She successfully auditioned for Momentum Productions Pre-Professional programme in February which has provided weekly training and the following performance
opportunities:
Dancer on the “Power Rangers” Television series.
Dancer in the Show “Soundscape” performed at the Q Theatre.

Olivia Blanchard
Last year Olivia was awarded a DanceMasters International Scholarship to the elite Training Programme in Australia and this year attended the International intensive training programme in both classical ballet and contemporary dance at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London during August. She has been reaccepted for a third year, and is now a Senior Associate of the NZ school of Dance which develops and trains young dancers with the Royal NZ Ballet. In May this year she was selected to dance as a guest performer on Dancing with the Stars. She was a member of the NZ team that competed at Dance Worlds, Florida in April and were placed 2nd & 3rd in the Nations Cup. Competed in the troupe at Dancebrandz in July – they were the highest scoring troupe winning the right to compete at Dance Worlds in 2020 and the Global Dance and Cheer Games in Hawaii.

Ondine Payne
Ondine and her dance partner Connor are currently National Champions in the Adult Level 2 Ballroom category. Last year they moved into the 16-20 age group Youth Category and competed in adult classes. They took part in 13 events across 3 disciplines and won 6 Silver awards. In April this year at the KiwiClassic International competitions they won 13 titles (1st placings) across 3 disciplines – Latin, New Vogue and Ballroom.

BLUE WITH DISTINCTION

Diocesan Blue Awards are presented to students have already received a Blue award and have once again put themselves out on the national or international arena. They possess a focus and single mindedness to better their technique and to understand their craft.

DRAMA
Anisha de Silva – Anisha has had another busy year, she won the Best Emerging Actors Award at the Nationals of the NZ Theatre Federation One Act Play Festival in Wellingto – for a second consecutive year. This has only happened once in the 79 year history of the festival. Continuing her success at this adult dominated event, she was chosen to represent Auckland in Hang, and the cast went on to perform at the Nationals. Anisha won the Jannat Aitchison Award for Emerging Distinctive Talent with her lead role. She was once again, the only actor in the festival to have won the Best Actor Award at local, regional and national level. She also played the lead role of Hamlet in the student directed production at the Auckland Regionals. She was a key member of the cast in the The Sad Club, NZ’s entry for the National Theatre Connections Festival that toured the UK and the NZ play selected to perform at the international Ayr Festival in Scotland. Branching out into musical theatre this year, Anisha took part in our Senior Production Beauty and the Beast – as the main narrator and as a very important ‘spoon’

AUCTIONEERING
Grace Riley
Grace really came into her own last year – she won Best Director at the Regionals of The Shakespeare Festival for her female interpretation of Julius Caesar, taking it to Nationals in Wellington.
She also took the lead role in When They Go Low, NZ’s entry for the National Theatre Connections Festival in the UK. And a lead role in NZ Theatre Federation One Act Play Festival where she won a Best Actor Award at regionals.
Following on from her success at the Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ Nationals, this year Grace directed and mentored a young cast to regional success, winning Best Costume Design and Concept for her direction of The Taming of the Shrew, showing not only that she a capable actor but also a visionary director.
She also took the lead role in The Sad Club, NZ’s entry for the National Theatre Connections Festival in the UK for the second year in a row and performed the NZ play at the international Ayr festival. This year Grace took the lead role of Babette in our Dio/Dilworth Senior Production of Beauty and the Beast.

But it is in Auctioneering that Grace has made her name this year – she competed in the Australasian Championships impressing the judges with her presentation flair, wit and spontaneity.
Grace came second in the competition and was awarded a Silver Medal. This competition is an annual event, with over 100 Australasian competitors, whittled down to just two for the prestigious show down.
As the judges said ……in this sector of the industry where females have historically struggled to gain traction, it was a small but significant stride for equality.
Grace is leaving us this year to study at Victoria University. She has enrolled in B Comm majoring in Theatre Study & Marketing.
We wish her all the best in her future studies and know and she will continue to hone her craft as she becomes part of the Wellington theatre scene.

DIOCESAN HONOURS –

Diocesan Honours is the highest Arts Award at Diocesan. It is presented for achievements above and beyond secondary school level at both national and international level.

MUSIC – Sharon Hung

This young woman has always challenged herself and possesses a rare talent for captivating audiences. She continually inspires younger students and already holds a Blue and a Blue with Distinction from previous years.

Sharon burst on the scene in Year 9 with a fierce determination, energy and curiosity. My first encounters were witnessing a level of musicianship that was clearly above and beyond the norm. Sharon possesses an enormous curiosity which comes through, not only in her cello playing but in everything she tackles – and this has never diminished over the years I have known her.
She’s a real character, much loved by all, academic and music staff alike. Her only vice we know of is procrastination which has become a standing joke around the department. But this has clearly not held her back in any way, either musically or academically. She started playing the cello at aged 7, and along with her quirkiness and that rare gift of NOT being scared to be different, she progressed at an alarming rate, winning competitions and awards. She has always been a cellist to watch, in Y9 she gained the highest mark in NZ for ABRSM Performance Diploma and was selected as the youngest member of Auckland Youth Orchestra. In Y10, she had her ATCL and was awarded a NZ Symphony Orchestra Mentorship Scholarship. She has 7 Gold awards to her name as section leader of Symphony Orchestra and Chamber orchestra, having performed 3 concertos over the years, winning the Most Outstanding Concerto Award and helping secure Gold Awards for Dio. She is a 4x winner of our Concerto Competition and for those of you who have witnessed Sharon on stage, she is a force to be reckoned with, commanding the stage and drawing you in to her ‘zone’

Last year she surprised us all, displaying some hidden thespian talents – and went to Nationals in Wellington for the Shakespeare Festival, composing the music and performing in their award-winning play Julius Caesar. She holds a top Diploma in Performance –an LTCL, this makes her one of the very few students in the country to become Licentiate of Trinity College London whilst still at secondary school. She is the first Dio student to make it twice as a national finalist in the highly competitive NZ Chamber Music contest – the most prestigious secondary schools instrumental competition in Australasia. She has been a 4x regional finalist and been in 10 top chamber groups over the years she has been at Dio. TrioAstor won a national Gold award in 2017 and this year, her Ronesma Trio won a national Silver Award.

Sharon is also an exceedingly high achiever academically; a gilded scholar, a Biology Olympiad amongst other achievements.
In my time at Dio there have been few musicians who have given the school such a committed and extraordinary service to music at such an incredibly high level. Sharon has created a ‘cello mania’ and it is through her influence that Dio now attracts the very best young cellists in the country.

We wish you all the very best in your bright future. Congratulations!