Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Namibian learners have until next Thursday to enter the seventh edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards 2017 competition.
The closing date of the competition has been extended to this year due to popular demand by youngsters. Science and technology fans between 14 and 19 years old are now given more time to write a creative essay or design a poster. It’s sixty years since the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched, broadcasting a unique and easily captured ‘beep, beep, beep’ signal is this year’s topic for the essay or poster. Learners were encouraged to write an essay or design a poster depicting how satellites have launched humankind into the 21st Century and acted as a unifier.
The essay winner will be eligible for a 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. The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition is open to all learners from secondary (high) or combined schools on the continent where MultiChoice Africa has operations. Entry forms can be obtained from any MultiChoice Resource Centre, the nearest MultiChoice office or via www.dstvstarawards.com.
Entries are accepted in English, French and Portuguese and will be judged on the basis of high-standard criteria of accuracy, creativity, originality and innovation.
For the first time this year learners are also invited to engage with the awards community through a dedicated Facebook page. Only entries submitted on the official entry form are eligible. The overall winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in April.
All details on the judging criteria, national prizes and finalists’ selection are available on the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards website: http://www.dstvstarawards.com/about.html.