A Northland school which lost a performing arts competition after a student was caught smoking will not be able to appeal against the penalty.
Whangarei Girls' High School (WGHS) was widely tipped to win the annual Subway Stage Challenge Northland finals at Forum North in Whangarei.
However, the school was told it would be penalised two placings in the results after a national organiser of the competition caught a WGHS student smoking in a park during a break from a rehearsal. With the penalty, WGHS finished third overall.
Dargaville High School won the competition and Kamo High School was placed second. A national winner will be selected at the end of next month via televised performances of regional competitions.
The event, in which students combine dance and music to tell a story, was formerly the Smokefree Stage Challenge but this year a new sponsor was given naming rights.
The 17-year-old student was a makeup applier for the WGHS entry and was not an on-stage competitor. She was wearing a Stage Challenge T-shirt and was in the Rose Gardens when she was caught smoking.
Subway Stage Challenge producer and event manager Barb Cuttance caught the girl smoking and was unapologetic for what some students have called an unfair decision.
The competition was promoted as a smoke, drug and alcohol-free event and schools had been made aware they would be penalised if they broke those rules, Ms Cuttance said.
"They are the rules ... You can't make them flexible otherwise people will think they are a joke."
Seventy-five WGHS students had worked on their False Euphoria production, which focused on the destructive effect of pure methamphetamine, for about four months and had spent four hours every Sunday for the last few months practising.
The student caught said she felt terrible for letting "nearly 100 girls" down.
- NZPA
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