Finalists chosen in 2006 Crashbash competition

8 May 2006

Judges of this year's Crashbash secondary school scriptwriting competition had a difficult time this week selecting six finalists from 17 high quality entries.

The short plays about alcohol and driving were written around the theme of “consequences other than a fatal crash".  Initial assessment of the message, level of imagination used and staging potential for an assembly was determined through blind judging. The judges were competition convenor, Elizabeth O'Connor; Jeff Clark and Eilish Moran of The Court Theatre; and Chester Ogden-Travis, a performer who toured last year's winning Crashbash play "Moment of Choice".

Six finalist writers: Bridie Connell, St Andrew's College; Hayley Ferigo, Cashmere High School; Sarah Field, Avonside Girls' High School; Mingi Liu, St Andrew's College; Simon Todd, St Andrews College; and India-Mae Woods, Avonside Girls' High School, will attend a writing workshop with a playwright on Wednesday 10 May to further develop their script ideas. They will then be invited to re-submit their script before staging their play at the competition finals in the Great Hall, The Arts Centre at 8pm on June 16.

Each finalist has won $200.  The overall winner will receive a further $800 including performing rights to tour their play at high school assemblies next year.

This year's Crashbash tour "Moment of Choice" visited 25 high schools in greater Christchurch in the six weeks leading up to 17 March, reaching a cumulative audience of 19,000 students.

The competition’s sponsors are Christchurch City Council and Land Transport New Zealand in association with Students Against Driving Drunk.

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