Will and four other students devised a group performance titled 'Great News', while two other students were nominated for Individual Performances.

'Great News' is inspired by different sources, such as the leaked cache of 2000 reports from the Nauru Regional Processing Centre known as 'The Nauru Files' and the words of Armidale's Dr Nick Martin.

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"We wanted to create a piece that was eye-opening and thought provoking, but not confronting for the sake of it," Will said.

"The nomination feels like all our hard work in class and weekends have paid off, and it's so rewarding to be able to be compared with the best in the state."

Teacher Andrew O'Connell said he was proud of the entire class.

"The nature of theatre as an artform means that these students normally only get to share their work with an authentic audience once, despite spending months devising, rehearsing and refining their pieces," he said.

"For that reason, the nominations are so exciting - it is the opportunity for these creative, daring and thought provoking works to be enjoyed again.

"As a teacher the true reward comes from the students sharing in the joy of your subject.

"In the last few years we have watched our Drama students go from strength to strength and to have three quarters of all students nominated and a third of our performance projects nominated for OnSTAGE is quite staggering."