The Whanganui branch of National Council of Women of New Zealand held their annual Wynne Costley Research Essay Scholarship evening recently. Year 10 students from Nga Tawa were welcomed this year, joining students from Whanganui High and Whanganui Collegiate, the two schools which have regularly supported the scholarship since its inception.

There were twenty-nine entries and the essay subjects covered women from all ages and professions. The assessors were very impressed with all the students’ choices and gave out two special prizes:

• Rose Schmidt of Collegiate for her essay on local woman, Penny de Jongh, and
• Chloe Andrews of Whanganui High for her choice of Sidney Koreneff.

The Overall Winner, Dylan Tennant from Collegiate, wrote an excellent essay on Mabel Howard.

Mary-ann Ewing, who assessed the essays spoke about the wide range of women chosen by students this year. She told us that the students had researched and written about many different women: Māori and Pākehā, young and old, contemporary and historical -- but all the women were brave, dedicated and humble about their personal role in improving the lives of others.

Sally Patrick, currently Project Archivist at Nga Tawa Diocesan School, was the guest speaker. She spoke about the process of researching subjects, the importance of archival records and noted that the ability to read handwritten information is fast becoming a lost skill. She also congratulated the students on choosing to research women whose contribution to the country and society is largely overlooked and all but forgotten.

To read more articles from The Circular (September-October 2025) issue 654, click on the tag below.