Primary school pupils battled it out for the title of quizmaster at the Otago Daily Times Extra! Central South Island current events quiz in Timaru last night.
The year 5-6 quiz was held first, followed by the year 7-8 event, both of which attracted schools from across Mid and South Canterbury, along with North Otago.
Timaru's Sacred Heart School pupils Jed Fenwick, Daniel van der Spuy and Christian McCambridge, all 10, won the year 5-6 quiz, with 93 out of 100 questions answered correctly.
Christian said some of the questions were really hard.
''But we were working well together,'' Daniel said.
Gleniti Team no3 placed second on 89 points with St Joseph's, Ashburton, on 85 points, coming third.
Event organiser Trish Rowe said it was a highly successful competition, attracting 34 teams.
''It's up on last year; we had 23 teams last year.''
Intermediate-age school pupils had a tight battle for placings in the year 7-8 quiz, later on in the evening.
A team from Waihi School, north of Timaru, placed third after answering 83.5 questions out of 105 correctly.
They were beaten by an Ashburton Borough School trio, who scored 85 out of 105 questions correctly, placing them second.
First place was awarded to Mt Hutt College pupils Jack Irwin (13), Jonty King (13) and Toby Robinson (12), who answered 86 of 105 questions correctly.
Upon finding out they had won, Toby ran off stage to helpfully inform a supporter ''we beat everyone else''.
Their win was celebrated by the six other Mt Hutt pupils who had competed.
The quiz questions continue this afternoon, when the year 9-10 Otago Daily Times Extra! Central South Island returns to Timaru Girls' High School.
-By Chris Tobin
-Additionally reported by Greta Yeoman
