Literacy trust FunDza recently announced that it will be running a writing competition in conjunction with the release of the new South African film, Noem My Skollie. The film is based on the true story of John Fredericks, a storyteller whose gift for telling and writing stories saved his life.
Growing up in the Cape Flats, Fredericks and his friends were caught trying to steal money from a shop. After being arrested and landing up in Pollsmoor, Fredericks made a deal with the hardened gangsters in prison: he would tell them a story every night, involving them as characters, if they left him alone and didn’t force him to join a gang.
The compelling film follows Fredericks’ life as he resisted the label of being a “skollie’, changing his and many other people’s lives in the process as he worked with young people, sharing his story and helping them to tell their own.
FunDza believes in the power of stories, and here is one with a very literal demonstration of how stories can transform your life! So FunDza has partnered with the producers of the film Noem My Skollie, David Max Brown and Moshidi Motshegwa (Maxi-D Productions), to host a writing competition. Noem My Skollie is produced in association with M-Net, kykNET, the NFVH and the DTI, and is distributed by Ster Kinekor Entertainment.
FunDza Literacy Trust is passionate about the power of reading and writing, and has a virtual library accessible to a wide range of mobile phones. Every week a new story by a professional author is released, and there are also blogs, articles, poems and essays being loaded every day. Readers’ own work is housed in the “Fanz’ section and is enjoyed by FunDza’s thousands of readers throughout South Africa daily.
To enter FunDza’s Noem My Skollie competition, writers between the ages of 16 and 25 need to send in a short piece of writing, inspired by someone like Fredericks, or about themselves, based on the theme: Don’t judge a book by its cover.
The writing submitted must be the author’s own original work and should be between 500 and 750 words. It can be submitted in either English or Afrikaans.
Entries must be emailed to writing@fundza.co.za before the closing date – midnight on 15 July.
For competition rules and details visit the Noem My Skollie Writing Competition website.
The competition winner will receive R2000 in cash as well as tickets to attend the gala premiere of Noem My Skollie in either Cape Town (24 August) or Johannesburg (29 August). Two runners-up will walk away with cash prizes of R1000 each. All good writing submitted as part of the competition will be published on FunDza’s mobi network.
