Tremendous news. This year's Otago Daily Times Class Act Awards recipients will receive an automatic entitlement to a University of Otago scholarship for 2016.
All Class Act recipients will receive a minimum of $6000 through the Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship and, if he or she is dux of their secondary school, the value of the package will increase to a minimum of $9000.
''The Otago Daily Times is excited to provide the platform for the University of Otago to acknowledge the achievements of the outstanding secondary pupils in our region,'' ODT editor Murray Kirkness said yesterday.
''Class Act is a celebration of excellence and this recognition from the university certainly adds to the prestige of the award.''
University of Otago vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne said the awards were a ''well-established and highly respected initiative that recognises excellence and high potential amongst our region's school students, so it makes complete sense for the university to support the recipients of those awards in this substantive way''.
The Class Act initiative began in 2000 and schools in the newspaper's primary circulation area each select one or two outstanding pupils.
The recipients for this year's awards will be honoured at a ceremony in Dunedin on August 27.
The Class Act scholarship initiative is one of several changes to the University of Otago's entrance scholarships for 2016, all of which are designed to provide greater support for the country's brightest and best school leavers to attend New Zealand's oldest university.
''We have just completed a significant revamp of scholarships for commencing students, and as part of this we were determined to provide something extra that supports students from within our region to attend their home university,'' Prof Hayne said.
