It might be 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare, but The Bard is still proving popular with Bay of Plenty secondary school students.

This year's SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival Bay of Plenty Regional Final saw more than 100 students take to the stage at Mount Maunganui College on Wednesday night.

Katikati College won the Best 15 Minute Production Award for their performance of ‘The Tempest' at the SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival Bay of Plenty Regional Final on Wednesday night. Photo: Supplied

Now into it's 25th year, the annual festival sees secondary school students from all over New Zealand celebrate the beauty and the timelessness of Shakespeare's works.

BOP representative Wayne Flangan says they received a record number of entries this year, with six entries for the 15 Minute Production section and 11 for the Five Minute Production section.

'The number of the entries this year was utterly exceptional and the standard and quality of those entries were outstanding,” says Wayne.

'For me and my fellow judge Suzy Sampson, what was more outstanding was that all but two of those scenes were directed by students.”

The Best 15 Minute production section was taken out by Katikati College with their performance of The Tempest, while Mount Maunganui College won the five minute scene section with their performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Mount Maunganui College won Best Five Minute Production for their performance of ‘A midsummer Night's Dream'. Photo: Supplied

Both groups will now head down to Wellington for the national finals which take place on Queen's Birthday weekend in June.

Taking home the award for Outstanding Performance was Bethlehem College's Jordan Bulder with her presentation of Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream, while Mount College's Reanna Flangan won the award for best supporting role.

While Tauranga Boys' College student Lachlan Crane was selected as a direct entry into the week-long National Shakespeare Schools Production which is taking place in Dunedin later this year.

The night also featured a performance of several scenes by Mount Maunganui College College student David Simes who's heading to the Globe Theatre in London with the young Shakespeare Company 2016 in July.

Wayne would like to congratulate all the schools that took part in Wednesday night's regional final - Tauranga Boys', Tauranga Girls', Mount Maunganui, Papamoa and Katikati colleges.

Mount Maunganui College's Reanna Flangan. Photo: Supplied