The boys cleaned up in the year 9 and 10 section of the Otago Daily Times Extra! current events quiz, held at the Cromwell College auditorium last night.
First, second and third places were claimed by all-boy teams. The quiz was won by Mount Aspiring College 1, with 88 points out of a possible 100.
Second place went to Roxburgh Area School with 82, while third was Cromwell College 2 with 79.
The event, which is run by the Otago Daily Times through its Newspapers in Education publication Extra!, attracted 36 teams from throughout Central Otago, along with teams from both Queenstown and Wanaka.
The winning team from Mount Aspiring College was Fraser Hannon, Sam Andrews and Corey Fothergill. Fraser and Corey were in the college team that won the year 7 and 8 section of the quiz last year.
Fraser said the reason why boys did so well at the quiz was that they took a lot of interest in general knowledge. Girls were good at multi-tasking, but boys could focus well on one thing, he said.
All three boys were grateful they had a weekly class quiz at school.
"So we should thank Mr Crosby," Corey said.
The question that really tested them involved cartoon interpretation.
"That one really made us think a bit," Fraser said.
Other than the question on cartoon interpretation, last night's quiz included questions that involved recognising well-known people in photos, identifying both a mystery person and an organisation, and a section that required competitors to find the correct answers in an issue of the Otago Daily Times.
The Central Otago event is one of four Extra! current events quizzes, with contests in Timaru, Christchurch and Dunedin during the next month.
The first was due to be held in Christchurch last week but was postponed due to the earthquake.
Quiz co-ordinator and Extra! editor Ivan Behrnes said 1500 pupils take part.
• Photos by Cilin Williscroft; prints available from otagoimages.co.nz
