Schools from across the Bay of Plenty are preparing for New Zealand's largest and longest running youth performing arts event - ASB 2013 Stage Challenge.

Tauranga Girls' College students Jerrika Samuel and Phillipa Artus playing mother and daughter caught in the cycle of family abuse in last year's Stage Challenge.

A total of 11 schools will take to the stage when the ASB 2013 Stage Challenge and J Rock competition comes to Tauranga on June 20-21.

The event is part of a nationwide tour involving 16,000 participants from 200 schools across the country.

In its 21st year, Stage Challenge continues to provide a first class professional event for young people to showcase their skills in dance, drama and design. This first class experience carries with it key messages of attending school regularly, goal setting, staying fit and healthy, and having fun without tobacco, alcohol or other drugs.

Event manager Sarah-Jane Phillips believes the best part about the event is giving students the chance to experience that 'natural high” people get when performing onstage in front audiences of thousands of people.

'ASB 2013 Stage Challenge gives students the opportunity to make positive decisions in several areas of their lives and allows them to have fun with their friends while doing so.”

Students, teachers, parents and wider communities have been working together preparing performances to be staged across New Zealand at some of the country's premier venues. Original pieces of work can be based on themes significant to the community or on concepts from political and social messages to pure fantasy.

The ASB Stage Challenge also has scope for teachers to use elements for NCEA assessments in subjects such as dance, drama, woodwork, art and textiles.

Stage Challenge producer Helen Sjoquist is 'delighted” with how the event has grown across the last 21 years.

'More than 250,000 students have been part of the event and I am proud to witness and hear about their accomplishments both at school and in their future careers.”