The theme for the 2024 Olympiad is “Resilience”, for which an anthology of prose memoirs and a related study guide has been compiled by the Chief Examiner, for publication by the Eastern Cape Branch of SACEE.  Most of the selected texts have been taken from works by African and South African writers. The annual English Olympiad will be written on the fifth in March, 2024. In June each year, the results of all candidates and the names of the top 100 achievers are sent to schools. There are a number of wonderful prizes awarded to the Top 50 candidates.

These wonderful prizes will be awarded to the top candidates:

·       The top 12 Home Language and top 3 First Additional Language candidates will be invited to attend the National Schools’ Festival in June 2024 in Grahamstown. Free accommodation and meals will be provided. These prize winners will receive their certificates and cash prizes on stage during the English Olympiad Prize Giving that is held towards the end of the Schools’ Festival.

·       The top 20 candidates will receive cash prizes sponsored by the Grahamstown Foundation and the South African Council for English Education (SACEE). Those placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Home Language English Olympiad will receive prizes of R30 000, R25 000 and R20 000 respectively.

·       The top 42 Home Language candidates and the top 8 First Additional Language candidates will be offered free tuition scholarships for their first year of any undergraduate programme of study at Rhodes University, after successful completion of their matriculation examinations, subject to their meeting the University’s normal entry requirements.

All candidates who have written the Olympiad will receive certificates indicating a classified evaluation (participation, merit, bronze, silver, gold and diamond)