The top three winners of a De Beers Group sponsored competition to boost the standard of written English among students in southern Africa have been announced.
The top three winners of a De Beers Group sponsored competition to boost the standard of written English among students in southern Africa have been announced.
Winning trio: (from left) Sarah Martinson, Shraya Moodley and Abigail Sieberhagen.
They are Shrava Moodley (from Epworth High School, – first), Sarah Martinson (Roedean High School – second), and Abigail Sieberhagen (Pearson High School – third). All three schools are in South Africa.
Some 7,827 students aged from 16 to 18 from 383 schools throughout South Africa as well as schools in Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho took part in the 2017 De Beers Group English Olympiad.
The top trio received R33,000 (US$2,500), R30,000 (US$2,272) and R27,000 (US$2,043) respectively. The rest of the top 20 got cash prizes, books or book vouchers.
They were among 100 students honoured at the official prize-giving ceremony held in Grahamstown, South Africa. The top 15 candidates are invited to attend the National Schools Festival in Grahamstown, their participation sponsored by De Beers Group.
The top 50 candidates will receive free tuition scholarships for their first year of study at Rhodes University, subject to meeting the university’s entry requirements.
The competition has run since 1976 and is organised jointly by the Grahamstown Foundation and the South African Council for English Education. It has been sponsored by De Beers Group since 1985.
The study theme for the examination was ‘Then and Now’, and featured an anthology of poetry, prose, plays and short stories by South African writers, entitled ‘Staying Alive’. The anthology explored some of the early works of these writers alongside some of their later writing.
The Olympiad has a special component known as the Olympiad English Development Initiative (EDI), which focuses mainly on helping students from mining communities where De Beers Group operates.
The EDI programme is a De Beers Group partnership with the Free State University Schools Change Project and the Kimberley-based Maths and Science Leadership Academy, which provide tutoring for students. A record number of 531 students from 12 schools took part in the competition this year.
Phillip Barton, Chief Executive of De Beers Consolidated Mines, said: “It is inspiring and remarkable to see the numbers of participants in the EDI programme increasing every year.
“EDI is an expansive and inclusive component of the Olympiad, practically helping learners in schools in the mining communities associated with De Beers Group enjoy the benefits of the Olympiad and increasing confidence in the use of English in these communities. Importantly, this support is also adding some fun by providing an opportunity for learners to compete at a national level.”