A class of year 9 German language pupils at Columba College not only won the years 7-10 category of the 2011 German Short Film Contest, they won the best film award, beating teams in the years 11-13 and university categories.
Columba College German teacher Jenness Riethmaier said it was a commendable achievement for year 9 pupils.
The competition is run by the National German Adviser, the Goethe Institut and the German embassy.
Each year, a topic is set, and this year's was ABCde, so, in the vein of Germany's Next Top Model, the class created a reality TV show which aimed to find Germany's Next Top Letter - or Deutschlands Nachster Top Buchstabe.
Ms Riethmaier said the script for the show was written by the German class, and members of the the class acted, with help from some of the school's junior pupils.
This year marked the second win in three years for Columba College in the German film-making competition.
The class was presented with $500 at an awards ceremony in Wellington recently, which would go towards resources for German education at the school, Ms Riethmaier said.
