The first-ever Nou Praat Jy! public speaking competition, hosted at Curro Durbanville High School on 25^th of June, was a resounding success, bringing together top high school teams from across various provinces to celebrate Afrikaans in all its colour and sound.

Designed as a dynamic duet-style contest, learners delivered paired speeches under the theme Afrikaans – ’n taal van kleure en klank, marking the language’s 100-year milestone as an official language. The format encouraged conversational delivery and proudly spotlighted regional dialects of Afrikaans.

Individual accolades went to the top speakers in both Home Language and First Additional Language categories. Among them:

• Beste Junior Eerste Addisionele Taal Spreker: Hareem Amir (Curro Century City)
• Beste Senior Eerste Addisionele Taal Sprekers: Ngcali Dantile & Madison-Mãe Alexander (Curro Durbanville High School)
• Beste Junior Huistaal Spreker: Risa Burger (Curro Durbanville High School)
• Beste Senior Huistaal Spreker: Lara Slabber (Hoërskool Stellenbosch)

The winning schools and learners walked away with impressive cash prizes, with R10 000 awarded to the top teams in each category. The competition formed part of Curro Durbanville’s Kultura Festival, a week-long celebration featuring acclaimed artists like Sandra Prinsloo, Early B, and Francois van Coke, as well as a local wine festival.

1e plek Hoërskool Curro Durbanville Risa Burger en Christina Marx

1e plek Hoërskool Stellenbosch Liney Paulsen en Lara Slabber

2e plek Hoër Volkskool Graaff-Reinet Mikha Enslin en Mia Prinsloo

2e plek Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck Karu Rademyer en Isabella Marais

2e plek Hoërskool Parel Vallei Tyra Ross en Anya Rosenstrauch

3e plek Hoërskool Lutzville Lisa Rossouw en Zyla-Kate Smit

Junior Afrikaans Eerste Addisionele Taal

Ngcali Dantile en Madison-Mãe Alexander van Hoërskool Curro Durbanville