Deadline: 31st March 2022
Are you a high/secondary school learner with an interest in writing? Enter the 2023 SADC Secondary School Essay Competition and stand a chance to win your share of $1000.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a Regional Economic Community comprising 16 Member States, namely; Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Established in 1992, SADC is committed to Regional Integration and poverty eradication within Southern Africa through economic development and ensuring peace and security.
ELIGIBILITY
All secondary school going students from all 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States are welcome to participate in the Competition.
TOPIC
The topic for the 2023 SADC Secondary School Essay competition is; “How can SADC promote Industrialisation for inclusive, resilient and sustainable economic growth?”.
The topic is derived from the theme of the 42nd Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa on 17th August 2022, which is; “Promoting industrialisation through, agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, and regional value chains for inclusive and resilient economic growth”. The Summit theme seeks to accelerate the implementation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020–2030, in particular, the Industrialisation and Market Integration pillar.
SADC Secondary Sschool Essay Competition 2023 For Southern African Countries Instructions
To this end, the SADC Secretariat is calling for submissions of essay entries from active Secondary school going learners. The wording of the think piece and content should aim at addressing the topic and at the same time promoting the SADC’s Objectives and Common Agenda.
All entries should be typed and submitted in electronic version in Microsoft Word document format, and in hard copies.
Entrants should sign and initialise each page of the hard copy document to make sure that they have not been altered. All essays entering the competition should be in one of the SADC working languages, i.e. English, Portuguese and French. All submissions must be accompanied with a SADC Secondary
School Essay Competition Entry Form which should contain full contact details of the entrant, including, passport-sized photograph, physical address, telephone, fax number and
email address; and contact details of the entrant’s parent or guardian.
Note: The essay should be 1000 and not shorter than 900 words. The deadline for submission of entries to the Secretariat is 31st May 2023. Essays are coordinated by the Ministries of Education in all respective SADC Member States and will set out a date for submission of entries to their offices. It is the responsibility of Government officials in SADC Member States to submit the top 3 essays to SADC Secretariat for adjudication at regional level. Learners should liaise with their School Heads to submit their entries to the Ministries of Education in their respective SADC Member States. The Secretariat will not accept entries from individuals and as such those entries will be disregarded and disqualified.
Judging criteria are as follows:
Uniqueness – unique in its genre or create something entirely new, exciting, original material that stands out from the pack.
Creativity – Creation of new dimension, twist to a style of writing and great new spin.
Communication – Communicating positive message of the region, with brilliance, creativity and imagination in use of words.
The brief – The essay type, subject and content focus, word limit and any other set requirements, conformity to the guidelines. Knowledge and understanding – Assessing how well one has
understood the question and how much they know and articulate the subject matter, and see breadth and depth of knowledge.
Argument and critical thinking – To get the good grades, this is an area to give attention to convincing the reader of your argument, and how one uses information to tell the story or make your point.
Use of sources – These examine all types and range of sources used in the construction of your essay to demonstrate analysis beyond any core texts to include current, respectable works,
and maybe even discuss controversial ones.
Style and presentation – This is how one manages to package substance and content, e.g. such as spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence construction, etc.
Note: The essay should not depict violence, sexually explicit language, or substance abuse, profanity by substituting symbols or words, and should be overly sensitive on matters of race, culture, tribe, religion and freedom of association.
Competition rules and Guidelines
The entrants’ work should not have been published/broadcast by a registered and/or authorized broadcast company, newspaper, blogs, radio station, television station or agency or carried on an online of a registered and/or authorized agency in any of the SADC Member States.
The competition will only accept one (1) submission per writer and is open to all registered Secondary School active learners.
All writers/candidates who are SADC nationals may enter the competition, except those in institutions contracted by SADC, family members/ children of SADC Secretariat staff, subsidiaries of SADC and the SADC Secretariat staff.
All essays entering the competition should be in one of the SADC working languages, i.e. English, Portuguese and French.
However, the writer can use some inserts in any national indigenous language of the SADC Region, but provide translation in the glossary. Learners are also encouraged to reference their work where necessary.
The tone/composition of the essay must be reflective of the SADC region; and relate to the people and culture of inhabitants of the region.
Entries will be initially screened and judged by the Ministries of Education in all respective SADC Member States and consequently submit the top 3 essays per each Member State to SADC Secretariat for adjudication at regional level and selection of the top three (3) overall winners.
Entry through adjudication by the three (3) selected SADC panelists/judges, and the decision of the Secretariat shall be final.
The Secretariat reserves the right not to award a prize in any of the essay if the entries do not satisfactorily meet the competition requirements.
Winner and Prize
The winning entry will receive a once off prize money which will cover the outright payment of the Intellectual Property Rights of the essay. The monetary prize will be accompanied by a certificate signed by the SADC Chairperson.
The prizes at regional level are as follows;
1st prize = USD1500
2rd Prize = USD1000
3rd Prize = USD750
the top 10 winners will all receive certificates signed by the SADC Chairperson. The top three (3) winners travel to the Member States hosting the SADC Summit to receive their prizes during the official opening ceremony.
The prizes at national level are as follows;
1st prize = USD500
2rd Prize = USD300
3rd Prize = USD200
the top 3 winners will all receive certificates signed by the Minister of Education and the SADC Executive Secretary.
The Secretariat reserves the right to use the essay as and when required, and the writer reserves the right to share/ distribute the essay outside the SADC Secretariat sphere without consequences, but will not distort the original content and meaning of the piece.
The writer will not claim any future additional royalties or fees for the piece for future use by the Secretariat. The winning entry will remain the property of the SADC Secretariat.
ENTER COMPETITION
Attachment Size
- EN-Secondary_School_Essay_Competition_design_2023.pdf 472.17 KB
- FR-Secondary_School_Essay_Competition_2023.pdf 471.07 KB
- PT-Secondary_School_Essay_Competition_2023.pdf 478.31 KB
