Northland news in brief: Airpoints get teen mums to Wellington and Smart Alex wanted

Six students from He Matariki Teen Parent School, above with Air NZ representatives, will be flying for the first time to explore Wellington thanks to Air NZ's Airpoints for Schools programme.

Air NZ's Airpoints for Schools programme gets results

Six students from Whangārei's He Matariki Teen Parent School will be flying for the first time to explore the capital city and visit Parliament, Te Papa and Victoria University of Wellington thanks to Air NZ's Airpoints for Schools programme. The school was one of 10 nationally to benefit from the programme, which helps send Kiwi kids on trips around New Zealand and overseas for educational travel experiences, is supported by the Ministry of Education and allows Air New Zealand Airpoints members to donate Airpoints Dollars to participating schools for their chosen travel. Schools can apply for up to 20,000 Airpoints Dollars which is the equivalent of $20,000 worth of travel. Air NZ will donate the cost of the taxes and this year will be matching the donations given by its Airpoints members dollar for dollar to meet their targets.

Writing competition

The Smart Alex creative writing competition is back and young Northlanders can take part. Secondary schools can now enter the competition and this year will be the first time it will tap into the creativity of secondary school students in the Pacific Islands. The competition and prize money of $3000 is made available through the generosity of the Friends of the Turnbull Library Ngā Hoa o te Whare Pukapuka Turnbull, and the support of Services to Schools. Students have until July 21 to submit a piece of prose, poetry, or the written lyrics for a song waiata, or a combination of text and illustrations such as a cartoon strip or graphic story with inspiration coming from the collections. There are two categories, Years 9–10 and Years 11–13. Competition entries are welcomed in English or te reo Māori. More details can be found at https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/enter-the-2019-smart-alex-creative-writing-competition-for-secondary-school-students

Fisheries funding open

Northland Māori can apply for funds to promote and advance freshwater fisheries development, research and education. Te Wai Māori Trust is now accepting applications for the Wai Ora Fund for 2019. This year, a total of $250,000 has been made available for projects. Since 2014, Te Wai Māori has supported 35 projects through the Wai Ora Fund and provided over $1.4 million in funding. Each application must be for no more than $50,000 plus GST. For more information please refer to the Wai Ora Fund 2019 Guidelines at www.waimaori.maori.nz Te Wai Māori will be receiving applications via email at info@waimaori.maori.nz, and applications will close at 5pm on June 5.

Lotto up to $11.3m

Lotto, Powerball and Strike first divisions were not struck on Saturday meaning a combined prize pool of $11.3 million will be up for grabs on Wednesday. Lotto will be worth $1m, Powerball $10m and Strike $300,000. The Lotto numbers from Saturday were 7, 20, 25, 28, 32 and 34 with the bonus number 36, and Powerball number 8. The Strike numbers were 32, 28, 20 and 34.