The Smokefree rockquest has turned school bands like Opshop and Evermore into superstars of the radio waves during the past 20 years.
Now Otago secondary school bands like The Intergalactic Jandals, Playdough and We Like Pies are hoping they will be next.
They are just three of 31 Otago secondary school bands which will perform at the Otago Smokefreerockquest heats in the Mosgiel Memorial Hall starting at 3pm on Saturday.
Smokefreerockquest director Glenn Common said this year's first prize was $10,000 worth of musical equipment from NZ Rockshop.
Bands would also be aiming to win the Edge Airplay Award with NZ On Air which would enable the winning band to record its music and video at York Street Studios, with guaranteed airplay.
Mr Common said entries had topped 666 nationwide this year - a record in the event's 20-year history.
After two decades, the event is now run in two-thirds of New Zealand secondary schools.
Mr Common said bands were becoming a part of the fabric of the school - not just an extracurricular add-on.
"Teachers in departments other than music can see the benefits of being in a band. Kids learn to co-operate, to express their thoughts and emotions in words, to front up on time, to promote themselves and their ideals. There's a lot more to it than three chords and a drum beat."
Mr Common said the Otago heats would be followed by the finals at 8pm on May 24 at the University of Otago Union Hall in Dunedin.
During the next three months, heats and finals would be held in 24 centres around New Zealand, and footage from several of the events would be filmed by C4 television.
Mr Common said the national finals of Smokefreerockquest would be held in the Christchurch Town Hall on September 5, and a celebration concert was planned for the following night, featuring past Smokefree rockquest successes.
The Otago entrants are:
3-Sided Pencil (Logan Park High School and Otago Girls High School), Sewage (Logan Park High School and Andersons Bay School), Solitaire (Bayfield High School), Corrosive (Logan Park High School and St Hildas Collegiate), Frances-Jayne Robertson (Bayfield High School), The Reeves (Kings High School), Evacuation Scheme (Maniototo Area School), Fun Time (Kavanagh College), Where's Jude? (St Hildas Collegiate), Queen Anne's Revenge (Logan Park High School), 9 Points of the Law (South Otago High School), Orion (Taieri College), Reminisce (Dunstan High School), Drudgery (Dunstan High School), We Like Pies (Dunstan High School), The Monaghan Experience (Dunstan High School), The Mutes (Taieri College), The Intergalactic Jandals (John McGlashan College), Tigerzone (Logan Park High School), Playdough (Dunstan High School), 3 Frets Down (South Otago High School), Sanhedrin (Kavanagh College), Fifth Element (Catlins Area School), Dusty Strings (Taieri College), Synesthesia (John McGlashan College and Taieri College), TFF (Logan Park High School and Kings High School), Nadia Reid (Queens High School and Bayfield High School), Suspect (South Otago High School), RipTorn (Wakatipu High School), Purple Haze (Mount Aspiring College), New York Minutes (Timaru Boys High School).
