Hi [name]
.....our first newsletter!
Great to see you've signed up - thanks for the support - but no wonder with all the cool giveaways! Don't forget, if you don't want to receive our monthly newsletter, just click 'unsubscribe' at the bottom of this page...easy as that!
Thanks to all of you who signed up at the Wanganui Trade Fair on 22 August. It was a great day!
Exciting - we have drawn our first eventcentral winners!
Congrats to...
Joseph McHugh of Wanganui - you've won a Mt. Ruapehu Seasons Pass! We'll be in touch.
Congrats to...
Iona McKnight also of Wanganui - you've won a very stylish Nokia 6085, sponsored by Vodafone - cool phone, cool plans, just cool. You lucky thing. We'll be in touch.
Its been a busy time getting things going and we have got huge plans to improve and upgrade the services and website in general over the next few months. You'll be able to get more events, sporting fixtures and community stuff all in one place and you'll be able to load up your own events too! And there will continue to be great freebies and giveaways - so tell your mates to sign up too!
Have you visited Smallworlds yet? Give it a go and sign up for free - warning though - this can be addictive.
Upcoming events....
Experience paid off for Smokefreerockquest entrants this year, with four of the six national finalists announced today having been in previous national finals.
Over 650 bands played off in heats and finals held in 26 towns and cities from Invercargill to Whangarei over winter, with the final selection made from DVDs of the bands' original music, judged by Tania Dean from NZ on Air and Hamish Jackson from NZ Rock Shops.
In north to south order the finalists are:
Hudson and the Rocketships, Botany Downs Secondary College, Auckland, a quirky three piece indie pop band, made it to the national finals as Malford in 2007.
The Seed, Hamilton Christian School, Fairfield College and Hamilton's Fraser High School, a six piece pop rock group with a huge sound.
A Few Words From Dave, Mt Maunganui College, a four piece rock band from Tauranga.
Jayme Fitzgerald, Tauhara College, Taupo - singer songwriter and past national finalist.
These Dancing Wolves, Timaru Boys' High School, a three piece band playing ambient dance music, national finalists 2008.
The Jesse Sheehan, Wellington College, a singer songwriter who made it to the national finals last year in The Stray Dogs.
The judges were impressed with the standard of the music and its presentation on DVD.
"It's exciting to see the diversity and creativity of this year's top entries," they said. "These are the musicians we will see in the industry in the years to come."
The six finalists will play off at the national final at Auckland's Power Station on Saturday September 19, start time 8pm, tickets from Ticketmaster on sale now. The two guest bands are Kingston and Bang! Bang! Eche!
The national winner gets musical equipment from NZ Rockshops to the value of $10,000, and The Edge Airplay Award with NZ On Air where their music and video are recorded at York Street Studios with guaranteed airplay and a promotional package from myspace.com.
Footage from several regional finals has been filmed for screening in September on music and youth culture television channel C4.
More information is available from the official website www.smokefreerockquest.co.nz and there is information at www.myspace.com/smokefreerockquest
Here are just some of the awesome freebies up for grabs for the next 6 weeks....
We have an 8gb Silver iPod nano sitting here waiting...maybe for you!
...and a Red Samsung E250...
But wait there's more...a sleek blue Nokia 3120...
Vodafone NZ Foundation
You may have heard of the Vodafone NZ Foundation World of Difference Programme? Check out the details below - the applications have closed for this year but why not think about it for next year?