The DigiAwards is a competition that empowers primary and intermediate ākonga (students) from throughout Waitaha (Canterbury) to design, develop, and showcase their digital projects.

Entries can be any form of digital project – in the past this has included videos, websites, coded apps or games, commercials, Minecraft designs, or VR – and more. The opportunities are endless.

All Year 0–Year 8 ākonga from Waitaha can enter the DigiAwards, including home-schooled tamariki and ākonga who attend Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu.

Download our full explainer guide [PDF: 4 pages 169KB].

• 23 November – Awards event

In 2023, Te Takanga o Te Wā and Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories will be in all kura and schools' marau ā-kura and local curriculum.  

To better profile mātauranga Māori entries, DigiAwards offers a new entry category: “Entries sharing mātauranga Māori”. 

For example, entries might recognise pūrākau, voyaging, first encounters, waiata, te reo Māori or the maramataka.

Here are some entries sharing mātauranga Māori:

• Y2 Rakahuri Maramataka Calendar
  by Te Kura o Manga Kawari | Pegasus Bay School is a beautiful example of tamariki studying the maramataka. Tamariki drew their pictures digitally using the Seesaw Drawing Tools.
• Te Kūmara Mārohirohi, The Mighty Kumara! by Our Lady of the Assumption School was a stop motion retelling of voyaging and how the kumara arrived in Aotearoa over 1000 years ago.
  
• Nurturing Nature with Koru 6 by Bromley School wove elements of te ao māori and rigorous research into their impressive creative digital project.
• Te Reo Colours by St Albans School is a movie to teach our younger buddies how to say the colours in te reo Māori.
• To celebrate the beginning of the Matariki Māori New Year, Te Kura o Manga Kawari | Pegasus Bay School created an interactive activity so that whānau could come to the Matariki night and interactively engage with art and learning.
• The Whitebait Waiata is a digital story book and waiata, created in preparation of Matariki with mahinga kai (food gathering) as the focus.

We have 2 entry categories:

• General entries
• Entries with mātauranga Māori

Taking more steps towards our commitment to our Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities and to recognise te reo Māori across the curriculum, we will encourage te reo Māori in all entries in 2023.

Choose to enter your digital project into one of the following year groups:

• Year 0–Year 2
• Year 3–Year 4
• Year 5–Year 6
• Year 7–Year 8

If an entry is created by ākonga from a range of ages, please select the year range that the oldest falls into.

For each of the year categories above we will award a prize in the following sub-categories:

• Individual
• Small group (2-8 ākonga)
• Large group or Class (9+ ākonga)

In 2023, our theme will draw on the whakataukī from Te Mātaiaho | The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum:

Ko pohewa, ko auaha ngā ara ki ao hou
Creativity and imagination transport us to new worlds

This whakataukī refers to the big idea that ākonga receive joy from crafting their own stories. By crafting stories through digital technologies ākonga can inspire, educate, persuade, curate possibilities, and have an impact on their communities and beyond. Sharing stories “provide us with opportunities to experience different worlds through creativity, imagination, and interaction”. 

Self–chosen theme

Kaiako and ākonga who wish to submit entries under a self-chosen theme can identify their own special concept to focus projects on.

Funded by Grow Waitaha, we are excited to share a special opportunity for Y5 – 8 ākonga to attend iNVENTIONATOR 12 & 13 June. 

Delivered completely online, this special edition of iNVENTIONATOR will booked up fast!

Key dates

• 12 & 13 June    iNVENTIONATOR event

Download our FAQ fact sheet [PDF : 2 pages 73KB]

Learn about What is iNVENTIONATOR - What, Why and How in this podcast with Suzi Gould. 

Coding

Fendalton Open-air School's Tupaia's Adventure was a great use of Scratch junior, te reo Māori, and storytelling.

Websites

In 2022, Bromley School's Koru Kai took out the Overall Winner prize. 

Te Kura o Manga Kawari | Pegasus Bay School's Aroha ki te Ako won Overall Runner Up. Yr2 & 3 ākonga created video clips to learn all of the sounds of te arapū Māori (the Māori alphabet) and a waiata to help practice the sounds too.

Videos

Te Kura o Manga Kawari | Pegasus Bay School's Y2 Rakahuri Maramataka Calendar is a Google document with embedded videos of digital projects. 

Breen's Intermediate The Breen's Origin Story uses lego to retell a dramatised origin story through stop-motion animation.

Planet Song weaves most areas of the curriculum, especially non-fiction storytelling, science, visual arts and digital technology.  

An Apple Of A Problem by Koru 5 came out of a problem - wasting apples. Koru 5 came up with a solution to using apples, as well as raising money for camp buses, and educating the community about the issue.

Other mediums

Be Responsible - Look After Our Planet used Keynote to raise awareness about caring for nature and not littering through an animation. 

We use one scoring criteria so that different types of entries can be submitted and judged fairly.

Download our full explainer guide [PDF: 4 pages 169KB] 

To ensure the DigiAwards are fair, all entries must meet the following criteria:

• All entries must be the original work of the student/s submitting the entry.
• All entries must reflect the DigiAwards 2023 theme or a self chosen theme.
• Any other media content, such as images and sound, need to adhere to appropriate Creative Commons licensing. See our list of supporting Creative Commons websites.
• All entries must be created after 1 February 2022.  
• The entry form needs to be completed in full.
• An adult needs to be identified on the entry form.
• If an entry is created by students from a range of ages, the year range that the oldest student falls into must be selected.
• A link to a public file/resource needs to be provided for each entry. Please do not send in source files. For example, entries can be uploaded onto a YouTube account with the privacy option on ‘Public', or be able to be viewed independently.
• The person completing the entry form will need to indicate they have read the DigiAwards terms and conditions.

By participating in the DigiAwards, schools can help realise the New Zealand Curriculum vision of our young people being confident, creative, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners.

The DigiAwards provides an opportunity for our learners to:

• experience learning that is underpinned by the high expectations and future focus principles
• explore the values of excellence, innovation, inquiry, and curiosity
• develop key competencies
• achieve learning outcomes described in the English and Technology learning area, in particular the digital technologies areas of the Technology learning area.

Find out more about DigiAwards and digital technologies learning (PDF).