Zinzile MavusoYoung people from across the country are encouraged to participate in the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s 2018 youth essay writing competition against racism.
This year, the competition allows prospective entrants from between the ages of 15 and 21 to write essays that focus on one of three topics:
- A future free of racism
- Tolerating racism is racism
- Root out racism
The competition can be entered into by sending your essay to the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation via email, post or by having it delivered to the Foundation’s offices. Essays should be between 1000 and 1400 words and can be in any of South Africa’s official languages. Only one essay will be allowed per entrant and essays should not contain any plagiarised content.
The competition will close on Youth Day, commemorated on June 16.
Winners of the competition will be awarded laptops at the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s Annual Lecture, which is held in October.
“With this competition we hope to get an understanding of young people’s thinking around how racism should be rooted out of society, the implications of tolerating racism and what they think a future free of racism would actually entail,” said Dawood Raphalalane, who is coordinating the competition.
“This competition is certainly one of a few, if not the only one in South Africa, that aims to understand the views of young people from across the country on racism,” added Raphalalane.
Last year the competition saw 745 entrants from across the country express their views on racism through their essays.
The competition produced three winners, Nia Louw (16) from Durban, Nokwanda Dlamini (21) from Mpumalanga and Faeza Samsodien (20) from the Western Cape. Essays from last year’s competition can be found on the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation’s website, www.kathradafoundation.org
Submit your essay to:
Email: youth@kathradafoundation.org
Fax: 011 852 8786
Post: P.O. BOX 3240 Lenasia 1820
Drop off: Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, 19 Guinea-Fowl Street, Lenasia, Signet Terrace Office Park, Block B, Suite 2
Please ensure that you include your name, contact details (phone number and email address), physical address and a word count. All entrants must be contactable in the event that your essay has been selected.
For more information, call the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation on 011 854 0082.
