Government is appealing to South Africans from all racial groups to submit their entries for the International Youth Contest of Social Advertising Against Corruption before the agreed deadline of October 1, 2021.
The competition, organised by the Russian Federation, for all BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries and members of the Interstate Anti-Corruption Council namely Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, and Tajikistan, is aimed at developing a zero tolerance on all forms of corrupt activities within societies.
The criteria for entering the contest under the theme- “Together Against Corruption”- is that contestants must be aged between 14 and 35 years.
The entrants are expected to design a poster or develop a video, raising awareness about corruption or reflecting on their attitude towards corruption. Contestants can use their home languages or English in producing the video or designing the poster, however, accompanied by subtitles created in English.
According to the local organiser at the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), Mr Thabang Molobela, the contest opened for entries earlier this year on May 1, 2021. “Young people between the age of 14 and 35 years are invited to design a poster or develop a video to raise awareness and express their attitudes towards corruption on the topic “Together against Corruption!”.
“In order to take part in the Contest, an applicant must register a personal account on the official Contest website http://anticorruption.life to upload their entries,” he said adding that the will be held in the following categories the Best Poster and the Best Video.
Mr Molobela said the objectives of the contest is to spread awareness about corruption as a national challenge; collaboration with civil society and business in the fight against corruption; and drawing public attention to anti-corruption issues. The goals of the contest are to encourage the young people to participate in corruption prevention; fulfil our international obligations to fight against corruption; develop and use social advertising against corruption; and foster interaction between society and anti-corruption institutions.
The DPSA participates in the BRICS Working Group on Anti-Corruption Cooperation (BRICS WG-ACC) following the Ufa Declaration adopted on July 9 2015. The objectives of the BRICS WG-ACC include strengthening international cooperation on issues of focus among the BRICS member countries, enhancing the use of criminal and non-criminal tools to combat corruption, including through cooperation on asset recovery and providing technical assistance to each other.
The National Steering Committee
The National Steering Committee (NSC) comprising of other government departments, civil society and business has been established with its purpose being to provide strategic oversight on the implementation of the project. Mr Molobela said the NSC will also be responsible for shortlisting of the entries and select 10 best designs from the Video and Poster categories based on the rules of the contest. He said the Committee will elect the National Contest Commission (NCC) comprising of arts practitioners and NSC members to adjudicate over the entries.
The contest works are assessed according to the following criteria: conformity to the stated theme; reasonableness; in-depth coverage of the topic; creativity; novelty of the idea; quality of work performance; clarity of the language; style of presentation; and compliance of the work with the requirements listed in sections V and VIII of the Rules.
A majority vote in each of the nominations will determine the following:
• 1st place – the top winner of the semi-final in the relevant category; while
• 2nd and 3rd places – the prize winners of the semi-final in the relevant
category.
The top winner will advance to the International Jury in Russia to contest in the finals. South Africa successfully participated in 2019 and won three prizes at an international stage. The contest takes place annually and South Africa is obligated to participate in annual project.