All is now set for the fourth edition
of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards ceremony scheduled to hold in the Zambian
capital, Lusaka on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, reports ITRealms.
Head: Corporate Affairs, MultiChoice Africa, Ms Caroline Creasy confirmed this to ITRealms saying that it’s “All Systems GO!” this unique pan-African schools competition.
The event, ITRealms reports, attracted over 3,000 entries from 19 countries across the continent and has galvanized a passion for science amongst the younger generation.
According to Creasy in a press statement made available to ITRealms, the top entries from each country will be judged by a distinguished jury that will select a winner and a runner-up for each category.
“For the 2014 edition, MultiChoice
and Eutelsat have once again enlisted European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut
Paolo Nespoli to lead the continental awards judging which will take place in
Livingstone, Zambia on February 9. Nespoli, an aerospace engineer from Italy,
is an astronaut of the European Space Agency, and flew in space twice: with
NASA on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2007 in a 15-day mission to build the
International Space Station, and again in 2010-2011 when, after a launch with
the Russian vehicle Soyuz, he spent five and a half months in space carrying
out a variety of scientific, technological and educational activities,” she
said.
With astronaut Paolo Nespoli, she
added, there will be a panel of distinguished industry and education experts from
across Africa, including: Dr. Jacob O Ashong, Director (also Higher Education
Consultant) at the Ghana Science Project and Planetarium; Christine Mugimba, Head
of Spectrum Management at the Uganda Communications Commission; Professor Steve
Simukanga, Vice Chancellor of the University of Zambia as well as a representative
from MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat.
Reacting to his second year as
chair of the jury, Paolo Nespoli said, “It
was an uplifting experience last year to engage with African students and to
discuss their ideas and optimism with the jury members of the DStv Eutelsat
Star Awards. I look forward to this year’s event in Zambia and to helping
inspire students to dream big and reach for the stars.”
ITRealms gathered that the host country,
Zambia is hoping for a repeat of last year’s awards ceremony in Ghana where Zambian
teenager Francine Mazala scooped top honours in the essay category. She has
since gone on to visit a rocket launch site in French Guiana as part of her
prize.
Also, ITRealms reports that prior to entering
the competition, the 18 year old former Mpelembe Secondary School student had
little knowledge of satellite technology but was encouraged by the fact that
her school produced a country winner in the 2012 competition.
This, Creasy noted, in addition to
her passion spurred Francine Mazala to enter for the contest, thus leading her
to do a lot of research on satellite technology to increase her chances of
capturing the jury’s attention.
ITRealms
recollects that 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.
While runners-up will embark on a trip to South Africa
as guests of MultiChoice Africa and the South African National Space Agency
at Hartebeesthoek.
Even as schools attended by the overall winners also receive a DStv installation, including dish, television, state-of-the-art Personal Video Recorder (PVR) decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet, in addition to winners at national levels winning prizes such as computers or tablets.
#DStvEutelSatStarAwards @DStvZambia @DStvNG @DStv_Ghana @DStv_Kenya @DStvtz
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