Omphile tops North West
OMPHILE Kgwele became the ninth national finalist of the 2011 Anglo American and Sowetan Young Communicators awards in North West at the weekend.
Eight other provincial finalists will compete in the finals in Johannesburg on August 19.
They are Ayanda Twani from Eastern Cape, Thobeka Nkabinde from Western Cape, Gomolemo Moloko from Mpumalanga, Josephine Peka from Limpopo, Christiaan Kruger from Northern Cape, Avuyile Gasela from KwaZulu-Natal, Stephen Buabeng-Baidoo from Gauteng and Moleboheng Tsomole from Free State.
This popular youth leadership development project through public speaking is one of Anglo American's most prominent and highly respected corporate social investment and responsibility projects.
It is also Sowetan's most successful youth-centred community development project through the Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation, in line with the philosophy of the late Sowetan editor-in-chief, Aggrey Klaaste.
Another key nation-building partner is the Department of Basic Education. Senior provincial education department officials serve as regional coordinators, cooperating and collaborating with Munsa-Collective Genius.
Munsa-Collective Genius are the YCA's academic development and programme administrators, served by graduates and students in tertiary institutions across South Africa. Among them are former winners of the YCA.
Since its inception in 1994, the YCA has become a prestigious leadership development programme through public speaking, discovering and nurturing talented potential leaders in grades 11 and 12 in public schools.
Pupils research, speak and debate on a diverse range of social, political, economic and entrepreneurial issues. The top provincial finalists compete and out of these, the top three receive bursaries for their tertiary studies.
The foundation, however, is laid in the regional workshops coordinated and conducted by Munsa-Collective Genius and the provincial education departments' senior officials.
The YCA's objectives revolve around three pillars: the improvement of presentation and oral communication skills; leadership development and personal growth and the improvement of oral English communication among second or third language speakers.
Prizes at the provincial heats include certificates of recognition, books or book vouchers, R2000, R1000 and R500 for the top three winners. Their schools also receive cash. The overall winner represents the province at the national finals.
Prizes at the national finals include framed certificates and the overall winner receives a R30 000 tertiary study bursary and their school gets R12 000 cash.
The second-placed winner gets a R20000 bursary and R9 000 for their school and the second runner-up receives R15 000 and R7000 for their school. The six remaining finalists at each receive R800.