One aspect of transformation in education is to encourage self-thought and creativity in our young people and READ Educational Trust’s annual Word Warrior Competition is an innovative way of doing just that.
The 2018 Word Warrior Competition saw the introduction of the literary character, Detective WW Inkomba (which means ‘clue’ in Zulu and Xhosa). Entrants were encouraged to write a short story around this colourful individual.
For the 2019 Word Warrior Competition, entrants required to create a scenario in which our intrepid detective writes a letter to the main suspect or witness in a mystery of their own making; a well written letter posting pertinent questions to the individual.
Naturally the objective is to state details of the mystery at hand, to paint a picture of the addressee’s alleged involvement in the mystery, and to whet the reader’s appetite to read further!
Teachers and parents are urged to encourage their youngsters (aged nine through 16) to spill those vivid imaginations onto paper, and not without reward: the winning entrant will receive a handsome cash prize of R1,000, and their school will be awarded R5,000’s worth of books!
Entries can be sent via email – az.oc.daer@ofni or via post – PO Box 30994, Braamfontein, 2017, on or before 31 October 2019. For more information about the 2019 READ Word Warrior Competition, visit www.read.org.za.
