Pupils awarded for their artwork

MBOMBELA – Credit was given where it was due to visual-art and design students who came from different parts of the province.

Themed ‘South Africa at Work’, this annual competition which is meant for all FET schools from grade 10-12, gives the opportunity to see which schools have the potential to implement visual arts and design as a subject.

“The vision is to have at least one school per circuit that can offer one or two of these subjects, which could be in the culture and arts learning field,” said Hanlie Nicholson, the senior educational specialist (visual arts and design).

The awards ceremony was hosted by guest speaker Melanie Reeder who is an established author and editor, known for her book “A Sangoma’s Story“.

She gave an informative talk about self-branding as an up-and-coming artists and encouraged the young people to be professional and also warned them about the misuse of media.

The main sponsor of the event Riana Lourens from Ukuphila Tours, spoke about the tour packages her company offers to schoolchildren and teachers. “We offer tours locally and overseas to winners of this competition and regularly to students who are interested and qualify, we include arts and culture too as culinary tours,” said Lourens.

The ten winners received a merit certificate from the Mpumalanga Department of Education.

The awards hosted high scool pupils from Lowveld, Barberton, Middleburg, and Secunda. Prizes given to the winners of the different categories were sponsored by Hanlie Nicholson and Dr Gert and Martie Buys.

They also received a visual-arts and design tour sponsored by Ukuphela Tours.

The winning students were Marcha Naudé, Fezeka Masina, Refilwe Mbhugane, Yolande Sharpley, Jade Wallace, Nadine Trichardt, Tyron van der Merwe, Shandri van Zweel, Aaliyah Nzimande, Koper Abby, Melinda Cloete, Sherise van Niekerk and Maggie Brummer – all from the different districts of the province, with the exception of some students who could not attend due to exams.