Two colleges share O’Shea Shield victory

Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, and St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, have shared top place in the O’Shea Shield competition this year.

The O’Shea Shield Speech and Drama Competition is an annual event, which sees young people from 17 Catholic secondary schools throughout Wellington archdiocese and Palmerston North diocese gather to compete.

Students compete in a variety of speech and drama events over two days.

Competitions are in eight categories: junior, senior, impromptu, and prepared speech, oratory; debating; religious questions; drama; and Scripture reading (Te Reo section and English section).

The host college arranges for appropriate adjudicators for each element of the competition.

This year, St Mary’s College in Wellington was the host.

Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, scored top marks in Junior Prepared Speech, Te Reo Scripture Reading, and English Scripture Reading.

St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, scored highest marks in Junior Prepared Speech, Te Reo Scripture Reading, Oratory, Religious Questions and Impromptu Speech.

According to a post on the Palmerston North diocese facebook page, the 2024 competition will be co-hosted by St Joseph’s Maori Girls’ College and Sacred Heart College in Napier, returning to Hawkes Bay after their being unable to host in 2023 due to the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle.

A commenter on a post on the St Patrick’s College facebook page said: “Thank you, St Mary’s, for hosting. Lovely weekend. From St Joe’s staff and students. See you in the Bay next year.”