Avalon Intermediate School has won first place in the Bee Aware Month Primary Schools’ Video Competition, with their bee-inspired music video “Heart and Soul”. The Bee Aware Month Schools’ competition is held annually as part of Bee Aware Month, a nation-wide educational campaign co-ordinated by Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ).
Bee Aware Month is held every September to raise awareness of the importance of bees to New Zealand’s ecosystems, food chain and economy. A key part of this campaign has been engaging primary school children in the fascinating world of the honey bee through an annual competition. This year, students were challenged to create a video of two minutes or under on the theme: “Love our Bees”.
ApiNZ CEO Karin Kos says she was thrilled by the number and quality of entries in this year’s competition, but Avalon Intermediate’s video stood out. “It showed fantastic creativity and talent from the students, but also, importantly, there was lots of information in there too.”
Judging this year was a difficult process, with a high calibre of entries from schools across New Zealand. “The students had obviously worked really hard to learn about bees and share this information in a fun and entertaining way,” says Ms Kos. “We took a long time deliberating over the winners.”
Second place was claimed by Mararoa School of Te Anau, who showcased their school hives and bees in their video “Mararoa Bee News”, while third place was won by Holy Cross School in Henderson, Auckland who created a witty and educational puppet show called “Bee Aware: A loving bzzness”.
Avalon Intermediate has won a beehive supplied by Ecrotek, a $200 Mitre 10 voucher, wildflower seeds for planting at the school and delicious honey snaps supplied by Wedderspoons Honey. Mararoa School have won a $150 voucher from Mitre 10 plus some other goodies, while Holy Cross School will receive a $75 Mitre 10 voucher plus extras.