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- The United States of America's embassy in South Africa has announced a poetry and creative expression video competition called Next Generation Democracy.
- Participants must upload their videos on a private YouTube account or other shareable video channel and submit a link to pretoriaculturalsection@state.gov by 23:59 on 25 February 2024.
- The initiative is part of the embassy's Black History Month campaign for February 2024.
The United States of America's embassy in South Africa has announced a poetry and creative expression video competition called Next Generation Democracy.
The initiative is part of the embassy's Black History Month campaign for February 2024 and also marks 30 years of South African democracy and the US-SA democratic partnership.
South Africans ages 18-28 can submit one English spoken word poetry video clip of under two minutes.
The videos should share "the young poet's perspective on what the promise of democracy means to South African youth today and into the next 30 years", according to the competition details.
"Videos will be judged on effectiveness in communicating the importance and unique take on the topic, as well as what the author stands for," the details state.
The 18 finalists will be notified via e-mail or phone and announced publicly at the live Poetry Slam on South African Human Rights Day, 20 March 2024, according to the US embassy's website.
"The top 18 nationwide winners (2 from each province) will be invited to participate in a 3-day spoken word poetry workshop with accomplished American slam poet Alysia Harris in mid-March 2024," the details continue.
The finalists will then have a final performance of their pieces in collaboration with Harris. The US embassy will award three top prizes to the participants, including a MacBook for first place. 2nd and 3rd places will be awarded an iPad and iPad Mini, respectively.
Harris, who is an award winning poet, featured in the HBO documentary Brave New Voices where she performed her piece That Girl.
The following information must be in your email when submitting your application:
Full name
Date of birth/age
School (if enrolled)
Telephone number
Email address
Title of the original video
Applicant's social media handles (if applicable)
Applicant's contact information
Link to your video on YouTube or other shareable video platform
Full competition details can be found on their website.
"Black History Month presents a unique opportunity to highlight one of the many cultural achievements of talented Black Americans, to celebrate South African youth, commemorate three decades of South Africa's democracy and the first time in two decades both our countries will hold national democratic elections in the same year," says Tobias Bradford, the embassy's cultural affairs officer.
"Bringing US and SA artists together will leave our contestants and audiences with an unforgettable experience," Bradford adds.Bradford shares that they are excited to host Harris and have her collaborate with two South African poets during the workshop and competition. The SA poets are Xabiso Vili and Busisiwe Mahlangu.
Vili represented South Africa in the final of the World Slam Poetry Competition in Brussels. Mahlangu is the author of Surviving Loss, a poetry collection later adapted into a theatre piece.
"These poets are a remarkable mix of the creativity, thoughtfulness, social drive, and emotive expression that drives many young people in both of our nations," Bradford says. "They will each leave their mark on the contestants and each other and are sure to inspire each other's art for the future."
"All our poets see spoken word poetry as a platform to advocate for a more just social order, that serves as a space for transformative conversation and gives an alternative voice to individuals and issues alike," he continues.
