Dstv Eutelsat Star awards back

MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat Communications announced the return of the DStv Eutelsat Star awards for 2013, as part of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
The awards inspire innovative thinking among secondary and high school students to create awareness of how science and technology can be applied to everyday life, and to showcase the many ways that satellites already impact on the development of the African continent.
According to Nico Meyer, Chief Executive of MultiChoice Africa, the 2013 awards intend to raise awareness of the impact of information and communication technologies and in particular satellites, on society.
“The new edition of the Star Awards challenges high school students from over 42 African countries to propose how they would use the satellites in space to address three community, country or African continental priorities” he added.
The annual awards, which grew from 800 entries in 2011 to over 1000 last year takes the form of a competition for learners aged 14 to 19, to write an essay or design a poster on the specified topic. Country winners, besides winning exciting country prizes, will go on to compete against each other for the overall continental awards.
Like their 2011 and 2012 counterparts, this year’s overall essay and poster winners will win a trip for two to the Eutelsat facilities in Paris, with the essay winner travelling onwards to witness a live rocket launch. Runners-up will win a trip to South Africa as guests of MultiChoice Africa. The schools attended by the overall winners will also receive a DStv installation, including dish, television, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.
Students can enter the awards by collecting an entry form and other resources from their nearest MultiChoice office or download a copy at www.dstvstarawards.com. Entries for the awards close on 19 September 2013.