Results are not yet available for the entire Otago region, but an Otago Daily Times survey showed Dunedin secondary schools received 117 scholarships in the 2010 New Zealand scholarship exam season.
The total was significantly higher than the 89 scholarships recorded Otago-wide in 2009.
Schools particularly successful this year were Logan Park High School with 22 scholarships, Otago Girls' High School (19), Columba College (17) and St Hilda's Collegiate School (15).
Dunedin Secondary Partnership manager Gordon Wilson said the increase might have been driven by alterations to the partnership's scholarship tuition programme.
Otago pupils studying for scholarship exams have access to tuition from Dunedin's top teachers in their subject fields.
"We did a wee bit of tweaking on the programme last year. Basically, we provided students with more time with these teachers, which may have altered the results," he said.
The partnership was delighted by the rise in scholarships awarded, Mr Wilson said, but historically, Dunedin's results had always been good compared with the rest of the country.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority mailed out scholarship results this week and pupils have been able to go online to see their results since Monday.
Nationwide, 9670 pupils participated in scholarship exams in 2010, with 2264 receiving a total of more than $3.4 million in scholarships over the next three years.
The payments range from a one-off payment of $500 (for a single subject exam pass) to $30,000 for a premier award, to be paid over three years.
In 2010, nine pupils will receive a premier award. A further 44 candidates will receive the outstanding scholar award, worth $5000 per year for three years.
Details of individual premier and top subject award winners will be announced today.
