Samsung: Solve for Tomorrow is a NZ nationwide competition designed to build interest and proficiency in STEAM, and challenges Year 7 - 13 students (across 2 age divisions) to show how design thinking can be applied to help improve their communities.

Delivered in partnership with MOTAT, the finalists will share $24,000 in prizes, including prize money and Samsung technology for them, their teacher and school.

The competition is to simply identify an issue your community is facing – check out the 2024 winners for great examples – then unleash your creativity and demonstrate how STEAM and design thinking can be applied to create an amazing new solution.

Entries are welcome from individuals or teams.

• Who? Students Years 7 - 13, individually or in groups.

• When?

  • Entries are open now.

  • Project Plan deadline: 23 June.

  • Project Plan feedback provided: 14 July.

  • Entries close: 19 September.

  • Winners announced: 30 October.

• Where? Online, nationwide.

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The NZ Youth Film Festival is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to finding, celebrating, and empowering the next generation of New Zealand filmmakers and creators. Open to young creatives aged 15-24, the festival provides a national platform for emerging talent to showcase their work, gain industry exposure, and access invaluable learning opportunities.

Students can enter any type of short film, animation, video advert, documentary, or music video. This includes entries of any genre, story, or theme. NCEA student assessments, coursework, vlogs and explainer videos are accepted.

Awards are available across different categories, and the achievements of the students are celebrated at a final awards ceremony.

Funding in the form of financial support is available for students to help develop their short film.

• Who? Young people aged 15 - 24.

• When? Registrations are now open and close on 1 August 2025 at 11:59pm. 

• Where? Nationwide.

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Girlboss Edge: Sustainability is a fully-funded 10-day GirlBoss Accelerator, taking place over the Term 2 school holidays (1 - 2 hours per day).

Passionate young women with a passion for Technology, Business, Engineering, Innovation, or Social Impact are encouraged to apply. No prior experience or knowledge is required.

• Who? Young women Years 7 - 13.

• When?

  • Registration is open now.

  • The programme takes place from 27 June - 6 July (Term 2 school holidays).

• Where? Online.

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Play it Strange is a NZ organisation which encourages young songwriters to write, record and perform their own songs.

Enter the competition by submitting your details, a recording of your song and the lyric sheet. The recording and performance quality of the entry is not taken into account in the judging process.

This year's competition will be judged by a panel of judges. All finalists will have their song recorded in a professional recording studio and go on to the 2025 National Songwriting Competition digital album. The winner will receive a 1:1 mentor session with one of our competition judges and a $500 Rockshop gift card.

• Who? Aspiring songwriters Years 9 - 13.

• When? Submissions are open now and close 16 July 2025.

• Where? NZ, nationwide.

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This competition seeks artwork for the album cover art of the annual Play It Strange competition digital albums.

Artwork should be in a square format, with space for logos and the album title. Past winners can be viewed here.

Submissions could feature as the cover art for our Years 9-11 Songwriting competition, Peace Song Competition, Years 9-13 Songwriting Competition or the Waiata Māori Songwriting Competition.

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The Stock Pitch Competition is a competition where teams of 2 - 4 high school students across NZ learn how to analyse a company from industry experts, and then put their pitching skills to practice.

There is a prize pool of $1,500 up for grabs. The organisers will help teams from outside Auckland attend the final pitch by contributing to transport and accommodation costs.

No prior experience is required of students, just a willingness to learn and get involved. Everything that is required will be taught in the online tutorial.

• Who? Students Years 9 - 13, in groups of 2 - 4.

• When?

  • Entries are open now.

  • Registrations close: 27 June.

  • Online Tutorial: 14 July, 3:30 - 5pm.

  • Heats Round (online): 26 July.

  • Finals Round (at the University of Auckland): 5 August.

• Where? Online, nationwide. Finals in Auckland.

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Registration

The New Zealand Mathematical Olympiad (NZMO) consists of two rounds:

• Round One: A take home exam (a set of 8 problems), starting in June and remaining open for two weeks. Participation in Round One is open to any New Zealand student. There is no need to pre-register.

• Round Two: A three-hour supervised exam in August or September. Participation in the Round Two is by invitation only, based on the results of Round One.

The results of both rounds will be used to select about 25 students to participate the following year in:

• January NZMOC Training Camp, to be held in January 2026.

• Female and Non-Binary Camp, to be held in April 2026.

The training camp is also the first step in the selection process to choose the team of six students to represent New Zealand at the International Mathematical Olympiad, (IMO). Only students who attend this camp are eligible for team selection.

• Who? Students Years 11 - 13.

• When? Round One opens in June and remains open for 2 weeks. There is no need to pre-register

• Where? Nationwide, online.

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The annual New Zealand Engineering Science competition is a problem solving event for teams of 3-4 senior secondary students who study either Maths, Physics. or both.

It is a fun and challenging competition is for teams of three or four Year 12 or 13 students who are interested in Mathematics and Science.

The Pullan prize for first place comes with $1,000 for each team member (and $500 for their supervising teacher). Two runner-up teams will be identified, with each team member getting $500 (plus $500 for the supervising teacher).

• Who? Students Years 12 - 13.

• When? Registrations open on 1 June. The competition takes place 2 August.

• Where? Nationwide, online.

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The NZPMC is an academic competition that tests students' ability in physics and mathematics. The competition will be a perfect opportunity for passionate students who wish to be challenged and learn about Physics and Maths at the same time.

The competition is split into the Junior division (Years 9-11) and the Senior division (Years 12-13). 

The competition is run across two rounds.

• Round 1 takes place online on the NZPMC exam platform (there is a small fee of $9.99, but exemptions apply) on 7 June.

• High-achieving students from Round 1 will be invited to Round 2, their in-person finals. For the first time in 2025, Round 2 will be held in four locations: Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago (all on 26 July).

• Who? Students Years 9 - 13.

• When? Registrations are open now (early registrations are encouraged, as there are workshops available). Round 1 of the competition takes place 7 June.

• Where? Nationwide (Round 1). In-person in Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago (Round 2).

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The Hokonui Fashion Design Awards are an opportunity for Kiwi amateur fashion designers, from primary school age all the way up, to showcase their creativity and talent.

2025 marks the 37th anniversary of the Hokonui Fashion Design Awards - a significant achievement as the longest running fashion design awards of their type in New Zealand. Over the previous years the judging panel has included Karen Walker, Nic Blanchet, Francis Hooper, Trelise Cooper, Kate Sylvester, Liz Findlay, Doris Du Pont and Margi Robertson (of NOM*d).

There are a wide variety of awards for different categories and age divisions.

• Who? All students Years 1 - 13.

• When? Entries for garments are now closed, but the Auaha & Narrative Award Written Entries remain open until 30 June. The awards take place 25 - 26 July.

• Where? Participation is available to students nationwide. The awards take place in Gore.

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We the Women is a revolutionary 2 day in-person hackfest for women aged 17 - 25.

You will hear from inspirational speakers and join other amazing women to collaborate on a project to solve real world problems in UN Global Goal #5 - Gender Equality.

You will gain CV Worthy experience whilst creating positive impact (win:win!)  

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You will join a hugely diverse group of women to share, learn, laugh, and build a network to change the world with.

Girlboss is giving away full ride scholarships (worth $590) which covers your participation fee (this does not cover transport to Auckland, accommodation expenses, etc.

• Who? Young women years 12 - 13.

• When? Applications open on 28 April. The event takes place over 12 - 13 July.

• Where? Spark HQ, Auckland.

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Robocup Jr is a robotics competition for New Zealand school aged students. The regional competitions are in-person and take place around the country throughout May - June. The nationals take place in July.

Support is available for teams learning the ropes, including a 'kick off' session.

There are four different branches of competition: Robocup Rescue, Robocup Theatre, Robocup Soccer and Robocup Online. These are best suited for teams of 2 - 4 students.

• Who? Students ages 8 - 18

• When? Registrations are open now. The Christchurch regionals take place 15 June. Contact jessica@ministryofinspiration.org to register a team, or for more info.

• Where? Nationwide.

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First offered in 2019, the Sargeson Prize (named for celebrated writer Frank Sargeson) is New Zealand’s biggest short story prize, sponsored by the University of Waikato.

Entries must be original pieces of work, under 3000 words. The prizes for the Secondary Schools Division are:

• First Prize: $2,000

• Second Prize: $1,000

• Third Prize: $500

The winning story will also be published by Newsroom in its literary section 'ReadingRoom'. In addition, the winning author will be offered a fully paid one-week live-in summer residency at the University of Waikato, to be taken up in January or February of the following year.

• Who? Aspiring and emerging writers aged between 16 - 18 years old.

• When? Entries are open on 1 April and will close 30 June.

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