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Hi all - Media kits have gone out - if you didn’t get one and would like a pass to the show let us know. Thanks for all the great coverage of the heats & earlier Auckland finals. The finals this year are proving to be a very high standard - some great pix & stories. We will put out a media release with the results early Sunday morning - please make sure this current email went to the address where you want the results (usually news@ or reporters@ etc) The results media release will have contact details for the winners. We aim to have photos of the winners by Monday.
We have pix of the Auckland Central winners if you'd like those.


Media Release Manukau & North Shore Smokefreerockquest 2012 finals this weekend
It’s a big weekend in Auckland for smokefreerockquest 2012 as the top youth bands in Manukau and North Shore play off in their regional finals. The Manukau final is on Friday (22 June) at the Telstraclear Pacific Centre and on Saturday (23 June) it’s the North Shore final at the Bruce Mason Centre.

Founder and director Pete Rainey says the competition provides a real pathway to success for young musicians who are serious about making a career in music.
“Right now Kimbra is doing brilliantly in the USA - would she have got where she is without Smokefreerockquest?” he asks. “That’s hard to say, but the pathway would have been immensely harder for her without the support of SFRQ and the reassurance it gave to her and her parents that a musical career was possible.”
Rainey adds that it is great to read Kimbra’s acknowledgement of Smokefreerockquest in recent interviews in the New York Times, the Guardian and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The bands who made it through the Manukau heats to compete at the regional final are:
Backdrifters Manurewa High School
A Reflection of Yesterday Alfriston College
SecondGEN Alfriston College
Kingdoms Collapse Alfriston College
Mi Pasifix Manurewa Intermediate
Missy Manurewa High School
Greatwhitebuffalo Pakuranga College
Bradas Alfriston College
We See In Colour Papatoetoe High School
Harry Ray Jones Papatoetoe High School
If All Else Fails Botany Downs Secondary College
Anthropode Rosehill College

The Manukau final is at the Telstraclear Pacific Centre on Friday 22 June, starting at 7pm, tickets $20 at Ticket Direct or at the door. The guest band is Jury and The Saints.
The bands selected from the North Shore Heats to go on the final are:
Invalid Kaipara College
Hannah Kaipara College
Avalon Hewitt Kaipara College
Winnie and the Fros Kaipara College
The Whodunnits Long Bay College, Westlake Boys’ HS
Heroes for Sale Green Bay High School
Red September Rangitoto College
Scamp and Yeah Rangitoto College
Get Off The Grass Rangitoto College
EXIT 420 Takapuna Grammar School
Zkabby Jams Edgewater Collage
Anastasis Orewa College, Wentworth College

The North Shore final is at the Bruce Mason Centre on Saturday 23 June starting at 7pm, $20 at Ticket Master or at the door. The guest band is Young Lyre.

At the Manukau and North Shore finals, awards will be made for the top three bands, the MAINZ Musicianship Award, Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship, Lowdown Best Song, the APRA Lyrics Award and the Skinny People’s Choice voted by text.

The top four bands will join Auckland Central finalists Young & Reckless, We are the Pirates, The Teleprompters and Vivid in sending in a video for selection as one of the eight bands to play off at the national final at the Claudelands Arena in Hamilton on 22 September.

Smokefreerockquest powered by Rockshop has a prize package that includes musical gear to the value of $10,000 from NZ Rockshops, a NZ On Air new recording and music video grant worth over $10,000, a place on the NZ On Air Kiwi Hit Disc, radio promotional support for a single, and video play on youth music channel FOUR. There is also the MAINZ Scholarship for outstanding musicianship, the APRA Lyric Award, the Lowdown Best Song Award, the Smokefree Women’s Musicianship Award and the Skinny People’s Choice Award, voted by text during the regionals with the opportunity to open at the SFRQ national final.

Finalist judging process: Two bands from each of 24 regional finals send in their videos for selection as one of the eight bands to play off in the national final. Judging is done from a pool of 50-60 bands that also includes Rockshop Second Chance, an opening for established bands (playing regular gigs) who don’t feel they played their best on the night.
More info at sfrq.co.nz or facebook.com/thesfrq
Ends
For further information on Smokefreerockquest 2012 please contact:
Glenn Common - glenn@smokefreerockquest.co.nz 021 744 536 - director
Jacquetta Bell - jacq@nelsonmedia.co.nz 03 546 9661 - publicist
Pete Rainey - pete@smokefreerockquest.co.nz 021 747383 - director
Matt Ealand - matt@smokefreerockquest.co.nz, 027 555 7007 - organiser for your region

Smokefreerockquest – 24 years of musical success
Smokefreerockquest is New Zealand’s only nationwide, live, original music, youth event. Now well into its third decade, the series of over 40 events reaches audiences from Whangarei to Invercargill.
Founded in 1988 by music teachers Glenn Common and Pete Rainey, who now run Rockquest Promotions full time out of Nelson, Smokefreerockquest has become a New Zealand institution.
Smokefreerockquest 2012 powered by Rockshop aims to motivate young musicians to prove their ability and realise the heights they can reach in their music careers, and to encourage their peers to support 100% original New Zealand music. For more information visit www.sfrq.co.nz

Hall of Fame
Musical successes from Smokefreerockquest over its 24-year history include Kimbra, Midnight Youth, Opshop, Evermore, Ladyhawke, Minuit, Kids of 88, Die!Die!Die!, Pistol Youth, Annah Mac, Bang!Bang!Eche!, Ivy Lies, Cairo Knife Fight, Cut Off Your Hands, Luke Thompson, the Datsuns, Brooke Fraser, Anika Moa, Anna Coddington, The Electric Confectionaires, Steriogram, Aaradhna, Spacifix, Phoenix Foundation, The Feelers, The Black Seeds, Nesian Mystik, Bic Runga, The Checks, Julia Deans, Pine, King Kapisi, Kingston, The Naked and Famous, Autozamm and Elemeno P.

Smokefree’s Smoking Not Our Future Campaign
Research from HSC shows that 94 percent of all young people have seen the Smoking Not Our Future initiative and that Smokefreerockquest plays a large part in getting its key messages and its celebrities in front of young people. Smokefree has been the naming rights sponsor of Smokefreerockquest for 22 of its 24 years and this longstanding partnership between the two agencies has been mutually beneficial. Smokefree is able to deliver its messages to large numbers of secondary school students attending the regional events. While participants in the event are provided with connections to their schools and communities and develop skills and aspirations, which will help create the future musical stars of New Zealand. For more information visit notourfuture.co.nz