Leading continental premium pay TV provider, MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat, organisers of DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, Tuesday made public winners of this year’s edition of the essay competition in Lagos.
The Jury was chaired by a former astronaut and French Minister, now special advisor to European Space Agency’s (ESA) Director General, Claudie Haigneré.
It would be recalled that this is the first time a woman takes on this assignment, acting as a strong incentive for students dreaming big, especially young women, to live up to their full potential.
Nearly 6,000 secondary school students have entered for the awards competition since Eutelsat and MultiChoice Africa established it in 2011. This year’s edition, the sixth in series.
Apart from Haigneré who presided over an international panel of skilled industry experts, others include CEO, Innovative Technology Literacy Services Ltd (Nigeria), Ronke Bello; Regional Director for Africa at Eutelsat, Rodney Benn; General Manager, Broadcast Technology MultiChoice Africa, Melt Loubser, among others.
The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards encourages 14-19 year-old students to write an essay or design a poster on a satellite-related topic. Country winners from across Africa then compete in the overall awards for a trip to the Eutelsat facilities in Paris, with the essay winner travelling onwards to witness a live rocket launch. Runners-up win a trip to South Africa as guests of MultiChoice Africa and the South African National Space Agency at Hartebeesthoek.
Schools attended by the overall winners also received a DStv installation, including dish, television, state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.
