When it comes to success in Nga Manu Korero, the Cassidy brothers are kings in the Otago and Southland competition.
King's High School pupils Tumai Te Manene Cassidy and Kiringaua Cassidy won the senior Maori and junior Maori sections respectively at the weekend.
For Tumai, it is the third consecutive year he has won an award in the competition. He is in year 11, and has won the junior Maori section for the past two years. This year was the first time he had entered in the senior competition and he was delighted to have won that too.
His speech was about the contrast between the old world and the new, and what young people's responsibilities are, moving into the future.
Brother Kiringaua is in year 9 and this was his first attempt in the regional competition. His speech was about how Maori needed to take more responsibility for the revitalisation of the Maori language.
The senior English section was won by Verdon College pupil Destiny Naunau, of Invercargill, and the junior English section was won for the second year in a row by Otago Girls' High School pupil Hannah Matehaere.
All four speakers will go on to represent the Otago and Southland region at the Nga Manu Korero national final in New Plymouth, on September 20-22.
