Qualifications and standards

2020 Top Scholarship Award winners

NZQA celebrated the success of the highest-achieving New Zealand Scholarship students with a public announcement on 19 May 2021.

The awards recognised the elite students who make up the 2020 Premier Award and Top Subject Scholarship Award winners.

Prime Minister's Award for Academic Excellence

The joint recipients of the 2020 award was announced by the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, on 19 May 2021 – Rohan Kumar, formerly of Hutt International Boys' School, and Yi Fan (George) Yang, formerly of Westlake Boys' High School.

Rohan achieved Outstanding Scholarships in Accounting, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, and Statistics, and Scholarship in Biology, and English.

George achieved Outstanding Scholarships in Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, Geography, Physics, and Statistics, and Scholarship in Calculus, and Classical Studies. He is also the Top Subject Scholarship Award winner for Earth and Space Science.

Premier Scholarship Award winners

Eushin Kang* Hamilton Boys' High School	Brian Kim Westlake Boy's High School
Rohan Kumar Hutt International Boys' School	John-Paul Lay* Christ's College
Yuxin Li Westlake Boy's High School	Raymond Luo Westlake Boy's High School
Cameron Senior Rangitoto College	Friederike Voit* Rangitoto College
Irene Xue Glendowie College	Yi Fan (George) Yang* Westlake Boy's High School
Xinyi (Angela) Yang Macleans College	Will Zheng Auckland Grammar School

*Also a Top Subject Scholarship Award winner

Top Subject Scholarship Award winners

Accounting	Eushin Kang Hamilton Boys' High School
Agricultural and Horticultural Science	Isaac Mellis-Glynn Auckland Grammar School
Art History	Friederike Voit Rangitoto College
Biology	May Gan Glendowie College
Calculus	Ishan Nath John Paul College
Chemistry	John-Paul Lay Christ's College
Chinese	Yanrui Zhou Westlake Boys' High School
Classical Studies	Matthew Donnelly St Peter's College (Auckland)
Dance	Bethany Fletcher Mount Albert Grammar School
Design	Ella Wipatene Wellington East Girls' College
Design and Visual Communications	Xuanqi Zhang Cambridge High School
Drama	Zoe Crane Wellington High School
Earth and Space Science	Yi Fan (George) Yang Westlake Boys' High School
Economics	Robin Kunwar Burnside High School
English	Judy Fong Macleans College
French	Ambryme Guergoua Otago Girls' High School
Geography	Kavya Thomas Cashmere High School
German	Samantha Romijn Wellington Girls' College
Health and Physical Education	Yan Kuan Rangitoto College
History	Caspian Rive Western Springs College
Japanese	Misaki Kameyama Michael Park School
Latin	Edan Kyriak Auckland Grammar School
Media Studies	May Cavanagh Otago Girls' High School
Music	Jerry Mataia Dilworth School
Painting	Isla Ashby Heretaunga College
Photography	Metuisela Ngata Aorere College
Physics	Sung Min Oh Burnside High School
Printmaking	Aya Nichols Burnside High School
Religious Studies	Julia Randerson Wellington High School
Samoan	Junina Unasa McAuley High School
Sculpture	Sylvia Otley Otago Girls' High School
Spanish	Melanie Bishop New Plymouth Girls' High School
Statistics	Megan Kuan Epsom Girls' Grammar School
Te Reo Māori	Kahotea Gardiner Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutu
Te Reo Rangatira	Kiliona Tamati-Tupa'i Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Whānau Tahi
Technology	Tessa Crean Baradene College of the Sacred Heart