Gore High School pupils, Lana MacKay and Taylor Cairns (both 17) and nurse Kayla Mahon together are the group E-Liza, and the trio was named the New Zealand Gold Guitar overall winner.
The group made the finals in every section in which it was entered - New Zealand composition, vocal group, traditional and country rock.
Kayla Mahon also won the senior female vocal award and, with Lana MacKay, collected the senior duet award.
The duet Mahon & MacKay was runner-up for the overall award.
Recovering from the big weekend at home in Gore, Miss Mahon said they entered the group section "for a bit of fun".
"We weren't expecting to win as a group," she said. "It's all a bit overwhelming."
Miss Cairns said she was also overwhelmed and excited to have won as a group.
It will be back to school today for Misses MacKay and Cairns but the trio will travel to Sydney later this month, to explore the possibility of making their first album.
Dunedin musicians did not go home empty-handed.
Bevan Gardiner won the male vocal solo and Dunedin band Close Encounter, made up of Gardiner, overall intermediate winner Mitchell Smith, Dylan Shield and Willy Ingle, won the best group award.
Trevor Graham, of Dunedin, won the 40-plus New Zealand composition and Andy Gilmour, also of Dunedin, won the 40-plus gospel section.
Results. -
Senior: highest scoring Gore Country Music Club member, E-Liza; New Zealand compostion, E-Liza; group, Close Encounter; vocal group, E-Liza; instrumental, Eddie Simon (Christchurch); traditional, E-Liza; gospel, Jacinta Kerepeti (Invercargill); duet, Mahon & MacKay; country rock, E-Liza; male vocal solo, Bevan Gardiner; female vocal solo, Kayla Mahon; overall runner-up Mahon & MacKay; 40-plus New Zealand composition, Trevor Graham; 40-plus gospel, Andy Gilmour; 40-plus duet, The Loaded Gunz (Christchurch); 40-plus male vocal solo, Paul Sinclair (Wainuiomata); 40-plus female vocal solo, Michelle Thompson (Otatara); 40-plus overall winner, Paul Sinclair.
