Sacred Heart College Napier

O'Shea Shield 2024

The O’Shea Shield Speech and Drama Competition is an annual event, which sees young people from 17 Catholic secondary schools throughout Wellington archdiocese and Palmerston North diocese gather to compete in a variety of speech and drama events over two days.

Competitions are in eight categories: junior, senior, impromptu, and prepared speech, oratory; debating; religious questions; drama; and Scripture reading –Te Reo section and English section.

The host college arranges for appropriate adjudicators for each element of the competition.

Running since 1946, O’Shea Shield is one of New Zealand’s oldest intercollegiate competitions, and it involves around 300 students every year.

Sacred Heart College Napier has the privilege of co-hosting the 2024 O'Shea Shield along with St Joseph's Maori Girls College. The event will run from Friday 17 May to Saturday 18 May.

Our ‘Sparks of Hope’ – Te Ahi Kā – theme draws from the writing of Pope Francis. In Fratelli Tutti Pope Francis reminds us that hope speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart. Te Ahi Kā is an everglowing fire and in the context of our Catholic Faith is the everglowing fire of the Sacred Heart that burns for eternity, fuelled by the ignition of our prayers. This year we each bring our sparks to fuel Te Ahi Kā o Te Wairua Tapu The Everglowing Fire of the Holy Spirit.

It is the meeting of hearts and minds through the O'Shea Shield Festival that we intend to spread this message of hope with our youth. We envision that these sparks of hope, fuelling the fire, will travel back with all participants and ripple through the wider Catholic school community.

Our theme also draws from our charism as an RNDM school. The Visitation is the scripture on which Euphrasie Barbier modelled her missionary work. Mary physically brings Christ into the life of Elizabeth. All of us are called to carry Christ to others. As an RNDM school we are inspired by Mary of the Visitation to go out and ignite the sparks of hope in the lives of others.