Wakakirri 2026
Wakakirri 2026 – Victorian State Award Winners!
What a year for our Wakakirri team! After months of creativity, commitment and weekly rehearsals, our small but mighty team achieved something incredible – taking home the Wakakirri State Award for Victoria!
Led by Year 12 student Charlotte A, the team of Amelie H, Tabitha H, Maddi K, Cora M, Lexy M, Kristina P, Hannah T and Amelia W worked together to create a powerful piece exploring humanity’s responsibility to protect our planet. Student voice and ownership were at the heart of the project, with Charlotte taking a leading role in the creative process and the students contributing their talents across choreography, performance and production.
One of the highlights was taking the production out of the rehearsal room and into the majestic Redwood Forest, which provided the perfect natural backdrop for filming. Even the long drive to and from the forest became part of the Wakakirri memories, with the team keeping everyone thoroughly entertained with their own Hamilton retrospective – somehow making their way through an impressive amount of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s iconic lyrics without missing a single word!
Their hard work was recognised not only with the Victorian State Award, but with six additional Show Awards:
- Storytelling Award for a Great Story
- Ensemble Award for Choreography
- Ensemble Award for Dance Performance
- Production Award for Editing
- Production Award for Cinematography
and, most impressively, the:
- Spirit of Wakakirri Award.
The judges praised the team’s “incredible teamwork”, beautiful forest setting, strong camera work, editing, and choreography, while giving a special acknowledgement to Charlotte’s leadership of the creative process.
Of course, no achievement like this could go uncelebrated! The following week, the team reunited for a well-earned Maccas lunch back at school, celebrating everything they'd put together, but all the rehearsals, laughs, creativity, and teamwork that got them there.
A huge congratulations to Charlotte, Amelie, Tabitha, Maddi, Cora, Lexy, Kristina, Hannah and Amelia. Victorian State Award winners – an extraordinary achievement and a wonderful way to finish Wakakirri 2026!
Judges comments:
“Incredible teamwork goes into protecting the planet & incredible teamwork also went into the performance! Filming in the forest gave this piece a beautiful natural setting, supported by strong camera work and editing. The choreography was well performed, and I loved how the naturalistic production design blended into the world of the story. A special shoutout to Year 12 student Charlotte for leading so much of the creative process - an impressive achievement and a great example of student leadership.”
Abbey Novak