The SADC Tertiary Institution Essay Competition was introduced as part of the initiatives aimed at providing due recognition to the Founders of SADC for their contribution to the establishment of SADC and subsequent pursuance of a regional integration agenda.
The topic for the 2024 edition is;“What in your opinion has SADC achieved since its formation; and does it reflect the vision of its founders?”
Prizes
The winners at regional level will be awarded as follows:
1st prize will receive a prize money of USD $2,000;
2nd Prize is USD $1,500;
3rd Prize will be USD $1,000;
Top 10 winners will all receive certificates signed by the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
There will be no monetary rewards for national winners, but certificates of recognition for the top three (3) essays from each Member State.
Eligibility
All active tertiary institution-going learners from all 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States are welcome to participate in the competition.
Judging Criteria
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 in 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 – 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 particular point.
Use of sources – This examines all type 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.
Application Process
Essays are coordinated by the Ministries of Education in all respective SADC Member States. 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. NOTE: The Secretariat will not accept entries from individuals and as such those entries will be disregarded and disqualified.
The essay should be 4000 words. The deadline for submission of entries to Ministries of Education in respective SADC Member States is February 29, 2024. The deadline for submission of entries to the Secretariat by Ministries of Education is 31st March 2024.
All entries should be typed and submitted in both hard copies and electronic version in Microsoft Word document format. Entrants should sign and initial 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/or French. All submissions must be accompanied by a SADC Tertiary Institution Essay Competition Entry Form which should contain full contact details of the entrant, including, passport-sized photograph, physical address, telephone, copy of national Identification card, copy of valid Student National Identification Card, fax number and email address; and contact details of the entrant.
