High achiever and dedicated dance student Sophie Sheaf-Morrison has been chosen as this year's recipient of the 2023 Emerging Practitioner Award.

The award will support Sophie in her third and final year at the New Zealand School of Dance.

Sophie was honoured to receive this award, "The award means that I can continue my external te reo Māori studies at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa alongside my training to reclaim my identity as a Māori artist.”

Award-winning composer and pianist, Cameron Monteath is this year's Emerging Practitioner Award recipient from the University of Otago.

His professor Anthony Ritchie describes Cameron as a “truly rounded musician and creative artist. His composition is colourful, interesting, well written for the resources and has a knack of drawing in an audience."

This award will allow Cameron to immerse himself in his studies and focus on plans for his music career.

Cadence Chung is this year's Emerging Practitioner Award recipient from the Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

Cadence is a sought-after and award-winning classical performer with a long list of solo performances under her belt. She has organised and performed in many musical endeavours including her critically acclaimed musical In Blind Faith, which was put on at the BATS Theatre in August 2022.

“I'm constantly striving to not only improve myself as a poet, composer, and classical singer but also trying to uplift others through art, highlighting underrepresented stories." said Cadence.

Sarah Hubbard is an opera singer who studied for a Bachelor of Music, majoring in performance at the University of Otago.  She is an outstanding singer who was selected for the grand final of the Lexus Song Quest in 2022.

Chastity Mamea, a South Auckland artist, dancer, choreographer and researcher of Sāmoan-Māori descent has been awarded this valuable prize for the University of Auckland. Chas completed her Bachelor of Dance Studies (Honours) in 2021 and is undertaking a PhD in Dance. Her research interests lie in the importance of cultural identity in street dance spaces in South Auckland and how learnings from her studies could be used to develop community initiatives for urban Pasifika-Māori rangatahi.

Aspiring performing arts manager Michael Lyell-O’Reilly was nominated by his peers at Toi Whakaari and was chosen as the recipient for the 2022 Emerging Practitioner Award.

Michael explains that as a trans person, he has an interest in seeing how performing arts management can better support diverse people. That is why he intends to use his independent practice research project to explore how managers and technicians can adapt creative processes to support diverse art and diverse people.

Hannah Scholten, a Contemporary Dance student who is completing her second year of study has been chosen as the New Zealand School of Dance recipient.
According to the selection panel, Hannah pushes herself both as a dancer and as a choreographer and has gained extensive industry experience. As a first-year student, Hannah was given the opportunity to dance her self-choreographed solo at the NEW Zealand School of Dance’s Insight performances.

Creative artist Tōmairangi Paterson-Waaka has been selected as the winner of the 2022 Emerging Practitioner Award at the Ara Institute of Canterbury. Tōmairangi is completing her study at NASDA Musical theatre Programme.

As a Māori creative artist, she is looking at developing a theatre company to create a safe space for emerging Māori and Pasifika artists to be able to immerse themselves fully within both their culture and their craft.

Oliver is studying for his master’s in musical composition at The University of Auckland. His research focuses on how music can be used to convey ancient poetry in a way that can help people better understand their contents. 

As a multifaceted artist, Oliver has experience in modern and traditional music with a particular interest in folk music.

Maurea has been an acting student Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School in Wellington. Her involvement in creative projects during this has shown her passion for Pacific arts, being born on Fiji and raised on Samoa. This has built a foundation for her journey towards artistic creativity.

Persia began dancing at the age of 8, where among her 5 siblings she found what fitted her. Since then, she had pursued many forms of dance and was accepted as a Contemporary Major at the NZ School of Dance. She intends to pursue a lifelong career in dance. 

Abhinath is a classical pianist who has performed many prestige performances and has had many outstanding achievements as a pianist and composer. His study of a Bachelor of Music with Honours at University of Otago has helped him pursue a career in music. 

Jordan is pursuing her Masters in Arts as an up and coming theatre director and designer, originally from Auckland and studying at the University of Otago. Her goal is to become a professional stage director, integrating many creative disciplines into physical theatre performance. 

Studying a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Waikato, Majenta is a theatre and Maori arts performer. Contributing to her local community in the arts, her goal is to create opportunities in the arts that she was lucky enough to have previously. 

Sebastian, a Bachelor of Theatre student at Victoria University of Wellington, is an instrumental performer and actor. His passion for the arts led him into this career path, becoming a role model for many.