Over the weekend, the finals for the 2017 Pacifica Beats and Rockquest high school band competitions took place in Auckland.

The winner of Pacifica Beats’ Best Band Award is Jubilee (pictured) from Aorere College in Auckland, followed by Blessed of Manuwera High School.

The award for Best Soloist went to Rose Campbell of Wairoa College and the one for Best Musicianship went to Soakai Malamala of winning act Jubilee. The Best Song Award was won by Fuzhun of Shirley Boys’ High School in Christchurch. The Mana Wahine Award went to Gisborne student Samantha Booth of Mellow, Best Vocals to Lisha Anitelea, Evile Laloata, Sholita Umutaua of Proud Brown, and the Native Reo Award to Te Urewera of TKKM o Huiarau.

Howick College punk band Minimal Silence took out the top spot at Rockquest 2017. Auckland region acts dominated with Daffodils from Western Springs College and Kristin School placing second, and O-Boy! from Kaipara College in third place.

The first place prize in the solo-duo category went to Sonatane Kaufusi of Manuwera High School. Sam Egli from New Plymouth Boys High was runner up.

The Best Musicianship Award was taken home by Arran Cargill-Brown of Havelock North. Best Vocals were judged to be by Gideon Valavala of Christchurch band Fuzhun who also has a win in Pacifica Beats the night before. Best Song was won by Daffodills with Staring at the Sun. The best Lyric Award went to Queenstown’s Cheery Moon, and The People’s Choice Award was Haze from St Kentigern College in Auckland.

Since its start in 1994, Pacifica Beats first featured local talent such as Nesian Mystik, Ria Hall, Spacifix and Strangely Arousing. Rockquest has been around since 1989, and has been a breeding ground for musicians like Kimbra, Broods, Joel Little, and a regular bounty of other local stars.