Schools' technology competition is back

The  2017 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition is back with a bang after scooping a Better Satellite Award at the third annual Better Satellite World Awards gala dinner in London last night.  

They are open to all students in schools around the country.The competitions, according to a statement from Tina Wamala, the communication officer for DStv, are open to science and technology enthusiastic students aged between 14 and 19. They will run up to February 12 2018.

The awards honour established companies along with disruptive innovators who make the world a more prosperous, healthier, better-educated, sustainable and inclusive home for humankind. 

Drawing on six years of success across the continent, the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards is returning for a 7th edition. Students from secondary (high) or combined schools can enter from today by writing a creative essay or designing a poster. 

The topic this year is, "It's sixty years since the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched, broadcasting a unique and easily captured ‘beep, beep, beep' signal. Looking back at this historic moment, write an essay or design a poster depicting how satellites have launched humankind into the 21st Century and acted as a unifier."

Wamala says, "The prizes of this innovative competition are as big as the dreams of a young, energised African generation ready to shape the evolution of our continent."

 Selected from thousands of entries by a high-standard jury, the essay winner will be eligible for a once-in-a-lifetime trip for two to Paris, France in the company of Eutelsat, and onwards to French Guiana to see a rocket launch into space. 

The poster winner will win a trip for two to South Africa which includes a visit to the South African National Space Agency as well as exploration of several heritage sites as guests of MultiChoice Africa. 

The schools attended by the two winners will also receive a DStv installation, including a dish, TV, decoder and free access to the DStv Education Package.