Showcase your talent: Enter the City's annual writing competition for young writers
Children aged 9-13 are invited to showcase their storytelling skills in the City of Cape Town's annual writing competition, focusing on environmental awareness. With a theme of discovering a mysterious box, young writers can submit original stories in English, Afrikaans, or isiXhosa. Entries open on May 5 and close on August 8.
Children between the ages of nine and 13 can explore their storytelling talent and imagination through the City of Cape Town's annual writing competition, hosted by the City's libraries.
The winners will be announced at the Open Book Festival later this year.
In 2024, the competition focused on environmental awareness and attracted 100 entries from young writers. The City's library and information services have decided to hold the competition again after its success.
Primary schools, book clubs and children within the age group are encouraged to enter. Entries open on Monday May 5, and close on Friday August 8.
This year's theme invites participants to imagine discovering a mysterious box while exploring their school or local library. The box is described as having strange symbols and a faint humming sound, and writers are asked to create a short story about what happens when the box is opened.
Stories can be written in English, Afrikaans or isiXhosa.
Stories must be original and handwritten, and fall within a word count of 500 to 1 500 words.
Submissions can take the form of a picture book, short or long story, or graphic novel. Illustrations and drawings are encouraged and will be taken into account by the judges.
"Writing provides a creative outlet and also helps children to organise their thoughts and emotions. By putting pen to paper, they learn a new way to communicate and use the written language to express themselves. Our children are creative with vivid imaginations, and I'm sure the judges will have a hard time picking a winner. I want to encourage all our learners to participate as they could very well write their way to a future as authors," said the City's mayoral committee member for community services and health, Francine Higham.
The prize-giving will be held at the Open Book Festival on Saturday, September 6. Stories can be submitted via email to psp.libraries@capetown.gov.za or handed in at the nearest library.
Cape Argus
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Citizen
7 hours ago
- The Citizen
For all the tea in… Mzansi
Cupido said that everyone develops their own nuance in ceremony, and serving tea is quite technical. For all the tea in Mzansi, tea sommelier Craig Cupido. Picture: Supplied This is the story of a man who accidentally found his passion, a tale of tea, wisdom, taking pause and understanding appreciation. Craig Cupido is the reluctant hero of the brew and the star of his own realisation of ideals. And, besides that, at 51, he's the only bona fide tea sommelier in South Africa. It's a story that reads like a fairy tale. Cupido had studied electrical engineering but ended up as a truck driver. One fine day, he was delivering orchids to a remote farm in the Western Cape. It was a job nobody else wanted to do, because there were windy roads, tricky entrances and exits, and it was a tough offloading job, because you must be gentle with orchids. So, while the offloading happened, Cupido waited. And that's where his destiny met him. The truck driver discovers tea's refinement 'The flower beds on the farm were always neat,' he said. 'And this old man would sweep up eucalyptus leaves while I waited.' He brewed tea while they spoke, he in Mandarin, Craig in English. 'He was learning English, and I think I was part of his practice,' Cupido said. 'But the tea he made, the whole process, it stuck with me.' He kept going back. More tea. More conversation. Eventually, the gentleman introduced him to his son-in-law. ALSO READ: The Funeatery's playful food, inspired proprietor Tea business The son-in-law was in the tea business, supplying loose-leaf blends to hotels in Johannesburg and Cape Town. 'He had between 600 and 700 teas at the time,' Cupido said. 'That's how I met my tea master,' he said. 'He took me in, taught me, and that's where the journey really started.' He learnt the art of the tea ceremony. 'It is supposed to be an expression of yourself,' he said. 'You can't just copy what someone else does. If you can't express yourself, it's not real.' Cupido said that everyone develops their own nuance in ceremony, and serving tea is quite technical. 'The first drop and the last drop from that pot are two different teas,' he said. 'So, if I serve you first, and someone else later, the experiences aren't the same. That's why we use what's called a fairness cup, smaller brews that are served at the same time, so everyone gets the same taste.' Tea is for sharing Not just a teapot but a Yixing pot must be used. It's a small, clay pot without any dyes or colouring. It's got a fat belly. For Cupido, it's all part of the ritual and the sensory experience that accompanies it. 'There is method to the practice,' he said. 'From fragrance in the cups to the feel of a warm lid in hand, it's about more than taste. 'You feel the glow, you take in the scent, and you sip from a cup without handles,' he said. 'It's appreciation. It centres you.' 'Caffeine in tea lifts the spirit, and L-theanine calms the mind,' he said. 'Together they help you see people more clearly, feel more present. You're not just drinking tea. You're creating space for others.' Some teas are for grounding. Others for the lightness of being. 'Pu-erh tea is one of my favourites,' he said. 'It's earthy, peaty. It comes from trees that are hundreds or even thousands of years old. When I drink it, I feel rooted.' White some tea, he said, is for gentler days. Oolong tea is enjoyed when there's a need for connection. 'Every tea has a personality,' he said. 'It's just about knowing what energy you want to feel.' Every tea has a personality There's an old English adage that every problem can be solved around a cup of tea, Cupido said. He added that it's true because a good cup of tea can change the mood around a table, impact thinking, and enhance an individual's emotional and intellectual presence. Cupido has spent more than two decades refining his tea ceremony as resident tea sommelier at Cape Town's Mount Nelson hotel. His tea menu lists 75 blends. 'I love listening to our guests and understanding their flavour preferences,' he said. 'Tea is very personal, and I've seen people drink a tea they've never had before, but it reminds them of something long forgotten,' he said. 'It's that moment. That's what I want to create. 'It's about giving the tea a space to express itself,' he said. 'Slow, thoughtful, and intentional.' Supermarket tea doesn't interest him. 'Those bags are filled with the dust left over from the tea-making process,' he said. 'And many of them are sealed with plastic or bleached. It's not the same. There's no story in it.' He loves the narrative and the journey, and even at 51, after two decades of tea, he said that there's no end to learning about the magical brew. 'I think I'll be a student forever,' he said. 'Every time I think I know something, I learn something new.' NOW READ: Il Gusto offers good food and good cheer
The Citizen
19 hours ago
- The Citizen
Bico's art doesn't play it safe
Birds are his metaphor. And there are a lot of them. Toni Bico is not interested in playing it safe. He is adding the finishing touches to his upcoming exhibition, Metamorphosis. It's a blunt yet immensely beautiful collection of social commentary. It's a bit uncomfortable, which it should be, and not a collection of pyjama works designed to match living room wallpaper. Instead, it is a visual commentary on what he called 'the speed of now,' where birds, torn canvas and installations come together to contemplate war, greed and capitalism, and a world in constant momentum. 'It started with the idea that we are living through a moment of massive change,' Bico said. 'Everything, political, financial, environmental, feels like it is collapsing and rebuilding at the same time. So, the idea for the show began with deconstruction. Literally.' He meant it. In one of the works in Metamorphosis, he tore apart earlier paintings and stitched them into something new. The pieces, he shared, are 'canvas collages' packed with meaning and emotional residue. Metaphorical birds Birds are his metaphor. And there are a lot of them. 'They are not just birds,' he said. 'They are analogies. For us, for migration, for consumerism, for the planet. One installation has ninety-nine birds displayed like goods in a market. It touches on how everything, even life itself, is for sale.' A suitcase filled with painted birds speaks to exile, departure, and the kind of movement not often brought up in polite conversation. 'It is not about birds flying south. It is about people. About often reluctant migration,' he said. ALSO READ: Art gallery that makes talent development the main focus Despite the larger-than-life feel of the show, Bico does not chase spectacle. But it's provocative. 'If you are curious, you will get it,' he said. 'If not, it can still just be a beautiful thing to look at.' T hat tension between form and feeling is something he deliberately maintains. Art empowered him at a very young age. Bico was eleven when he arrived in South Africa. His family were refugees from Mozambique during the unrest of the 1970s. 'It was a culture shock,' he said. 'I could not speak English. I was going through puberty. Everything I thought was my life had been left behind.' Words failed, so he started drawing. 'I would doodle in schoolbooks to avoid having to speak. That is how I got noticed.' It became his way in. His way forward. An artist of many interests Later, he studied English Literature, Psychology and History of Art. He has also explored astronomy and even tried his hand at self-driving vehicle coding. All of it makes sense in context. Bico is a man driven by curiosity rather than convention. His creative process is instinctual. 'Especially with abstracts, it is about putting something on the canvas, anything, and then waiting for it to start speaking to you,' he said. 'You must be quiet enough to hear what the painting wants. Sometimes I start with a figure, then destroy it, abstract it, layer it until you cannot see it anymore. But it is still there, part of the structure.' He paints what he sees and what he feels. Often without meaning to. 'You do not need to plan a work,' he said. 'You just need to be honest, and it will come out. The world we live in, it is already inside us.' When he's done with a painting, the rest is up to the viewer. Years ago, every time someone bought one of his works, he felt like he was giving up part of himself. 'Now, when someone buys a painting, it is the end of my relationship with it. It is the start of the work's real life. It goes off and finds a home, gets loved in a new way.' Metamorphosis opens at Art Eye Gallery in Dainfern in July. NOW READ: It's lekker, messy creativity and art
IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Daughter sets mother's ashes adrift in a bottle to fulfill her dream of travelling the world
In a heartwarming tale, a woman has decided to honour her mother's wish of wanting to travel the world, but in a very unique way. Wendy Chadwick died in February while on holiday with her family, she was 51-years-old. The English single mother of five had not been able to fulfill her wish. Her daughter, Cara Melia, has now taken on the task of making her mom's dream a reality. Melia put her mother's ashes in a bottle - along with a note - and threw it into the sea in Skegness in England. The note reads, "This is my mum. Throw her back in - she's travelling the world. Thanks Cara, Oldham."
