THE COMPETITION IN 2026

The New Zealand Secondary Schools Case Competition is continuing once again as an in-person and online (for those not based in Auckland) event for 2026, giving the opportunity to secondary students from around Aotearoa to compete. We are also excited this year to announce the expansion of the competition into Australia, offering high schoolers from across NZ the opportunity to compete.

The competition this year is split into two rounds.

The preliminary round will begin on 25th May, where a business case will be distributed to all participants. Teams will have a week to build a business case presentation from this case which they will then record and submit for judging by 1st June. From these submissions, five teams will be provided feedback from industry professionals and proceed to the final round.

The final round will occur on June 13th from 9am to 4pm, and will entail a live presentation of each team’s case to a group of industry judges at St Cuthbert’s College in Epsom. Along with their presentation, teams will also have a timed Q&A about their business case. From these presentations, winners of the competition will be selected. Note that finalists outside this region will present via Zoom an online presentation to the panel of judges.

The challenge allows contestants to challenge their skills in emerging areas relevant to the modern workplace including creativity, problem solving ability and time management skills.

In the competition, teams have to look at a business case for a real life organisation and analyse a company, identify key issues and present a strategy on how the business can best meet its aims to a panel of judges.

DATES

Preliminary round: May 25th - June 1st

Results for preliminary rounds released: 9th June

Final round: June 13th

TRANSPORT

All travel and accommodation will be at the teams own expense

NZSSCC cannot provide assistance with travel or accommodation arrangements

Teams which cannot present in person may present via Zoom link

WHO CAN ENTER

•   This competition is aimed towards Year 10 to Year 13 students

•   Teams must have between 2 - 4 members.

•   Teams can be composed of members from different colleges

• Teams must be from New Zealand or Australia