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If you're a high school student who's more musical than sporty, then here's your chance to be in the First XV of songwriting? There's a competition open right now, that could lead to a recording studio and performing on an album. Kimbra, Anna Mac and Georgia from Broods all got their start by entering the songwriting contest with Play It Strange. Carolyn Robinson has the story.

Most towns across New Zealand have a Santa Parade, run by teams of loyal volunteers. But what you may not realise is that some of those people are already putting in the hard yards now - five months out. Auckland's Santa Parade's the biggest... and this year will celebrate its 85th birthday. So Tamati Rimene-Sproat went along to see if he could lend a helping hand.

When it comes to holidays, most of us like to relax. But for others it's an opportunity to experience the strange and extraordinary. Yes, we're not talking a Contiki Tour, we're talking about a travel trend dubbed "Dark Tourism". It's a world Kiwi journalist David Farrier's been exploring for the last 12 months.

Something else that lots of people are terrified of robots taking over. Well Transpower is trialling robots to help restore power to rural areas after big storms. Tim Wilson has more.

If you’d like to enter the Play It Strange song writing competition you’ve got until Friday! 🎤 So get your songs in here: http://playitstrange.org.nz/#competitions-new