For children to truly develop a love for reading, it’s essential that they hear stories in their home languages. They need to see their own lives, cultures, and languages reflected in the pages of a book. In South Africa, there’s a significant shortage of children’s books in indigenous languages, which can be a major barrier to enjoying reading time. Especially in the early years, these books do more than tell stories—they serve as gateways to the rich world of reading. Learning to read in a child’s home language not only supports the acquisition of a second language later on, but also fosters a strong sense of pride in their heritage and identity. Having books available in these languages is crucial to nurturing this connection.
At SANTS we recognised this problem. Thankfully we have incredibly talented students who are on the path of becoming incredible teachers, who can address this gap with us. In 2023 we kicked off our very first writing competition in Afrikaans, but realised we needed to do much more than just Afrikaans. In 2024, we officially kicked off the writing competition, Writing for the Future, where we asked SANTS students to write their versions of Children’s literature, Youth literature, and poetry, in one of the six languages we offer at SANTS. These languages include Afrikaans, English, Setswana, Sepedi, IsiZulu, and IsiXhosa.
This was a great success and it is with great excitement that we announce our winners for the 2024 writing competition (in no specific order):
Ontlametse Rakoi in the Setswana category with:
• Selegae – Youth Literature
• Segarona – Poetry
Jenica Simpson in both the Afrikaans and English categories with:
• Speurder-dagboek, Die LEGO dief – Youth Literature
• Zorb – Youth Literature
Dintle Boroko in the English category with:
• Thuto goes to the Zoo – Children’s Literature
Susanna van Rooyen in the Afrikaans category with:
• Meneer Skillie, die stadige skilpad – Children’s Literature
• Die skoolbus – Poetry
Karabelo Mosiea in the English category with:
• My Prophet – Poetry
Congratulations to these incredible writers! We hope and trust that you will share your passion for literature with the learners in your classes.
If you want to participate in Writing for the Future 2025, feel free to email us at sants.wc@gmail.com for more information!