DStv Eutelsat Star awards competition open

 

This year’s competition will be in the form of essay writing or alternatively designing a poster on the set topic.

 

The awards are held annually to inspire innovative thinking among secondary school students in Africa, to create awareness on how science and technology can be applied to everyday life and to showcase the many ways that satellites already impact on the development of the continent.

 

The application process, according to Tina Wamala, the Multichoice public relations and communications manager, will close on October 27 – just under a month away – and only entries submitted on the prescribed entry form will be eligible.

 

This year’s theme according to a press statement released by Multichoice is, “Imagine you are a satellite, orbiting high above your own country or even above your own home or school.”

 

According to the statement, the competition has drawn over 3,000 entries across the continent since its inception in 2011 and has rejuvenated a passion for science amongst the younger generation.

 

 

Several sleepless nights devoted to profound thinking and drawing earned Angel Gabriella Atim of Bishop Cypriano Kihangire Senior Secondary School, continental fame in 2013, in this same competition.

 

Atim, 18, was declared the runner-up in the Poster Category in a star-spangled ceremony held at the famous Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, Ghana (West Africa). The first place went to Lloyd Ossei Baffour of Ghana.

 

At the continental level, she was the first runner up, having competed with 1,000 participants from 19 African countries. This won Atim a MultiChoice fun-loaded trip to the MultiChoice headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

 

 

The DStv Eutelsat star awards comprise national and international adjudication. The first assessment of entries is at country level with a panel of local judges selecting country winners and runners-up who go through a round of preliminary judging, which culminates in the selection of the final winners.

 

A regional panel then selects the top four entries.

 

Country winners receive country prizes and go on to compete against each other for the overall continental awards. 

 

The overall essay and poster winners are eligible for a once-in-a-lifetime trip for two to the Eutelsat facilities in Paris, with the essay winner traveling onwards to witness a live rocket launch. 

 

Runners-up will get a trip to South Africa as guests of MultiChoice Africa. 

 

More so, the schools which will produce the overall winners will also receive a DStv installation which includes dish, television, state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.

 

The awards are open to all students from secondary schools in Africa where MultiChoice Africa maintains operations.

 

The winners of the award will be announced at an awards ceremony in Zambia in February 2015.