Harrison Downs of Kaponga School proved to be a triple threat at the annual MOA Awards last Tuesday night, winning the Supreme Award with a music video that he directed as well as acted and sang in.
The MOA Awards are designed to recognised digital excellence in education at Matapu, Opunake, Auroa and Kaponga Schools.
Categories include Best Passion Blog, Best Short Film, Best Photograph, Best Animation and many more.
This year was only the second year that Kaponga School was involved in the competition and Harrison says he was shocked to be chosen as the supreme winner with his music video Lost Boy.
"I had entries in two categories, the short film and photograph, but there were so many awesome entries I didn't even think about winning."
Harrison's music video, which won his category as well as the supreme award, told the story of a young boy, played by himself, with type one diabetes which makes him feel isolated and lost until he finds a friend in Peter Pan.
"The song, Lost Boy by singer Ruth B, was in the charts for a while and I felt that I could relate to it so that was my inspiration." Harrison adds that he also wanted to draw attention to diabetes and raise awareness for how the condition can affect young people.
Harrison's video was filmed in a variety of locations, including Stratford's glockenspiel, and the 12-year-old says he really enjoyed shooting the video and editing it together.
Gracie, 5, was also a winner at the annual awards night, taking home the prize for Best Junior Animation. It was Gracie's first year in the MOA Awards and she topped her category with a Hotwheels-themed clip, beating out several animations that were put together as group projects.
"I had lots of fun making the video and the awards night was fun too," says Gracie.
Principal Shane Downs says he was incredibly proud of all 97 entries produced by Kaponga School pupils, 31 of which were named as finalists.
"The students have been working hard all year to produce these clips, with little to no intervention by teachers. The results are a real testament to how much dedication they showed to their projects."
Shane says the MOA Awards night is hosted much like the Academy Awards with pupils getting the chance to dress in their 'glad rags', arrive in vintage vehicles and walk the red carpet before the awards ceremony.
To check out all the entries and finalists for this years MOA Awards the Google Drive can be found on the Opunake Primary School's website