NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD OF SOUTH AFRICA®
SHOWCASE AWARDS PRESENTATION FOR TOP ACHIEVERS OF 2020
It does seem if the recent communication regarding the 2020 Showcase Awards presentation did not receive all concerned or created some confusion. As we do not want to exclude anyone due to some misunderstanding, the purpose of this summary is to clarify the issue. (For this reason you will have received this communication now, even though you have already indicated your unavailability following the initial communication.)
Given the challenges that Covid-19 brought about, the annual Showcase events could not be presented at the end of 2020. For this reason, only the names of the Top 10 achievers, as well as the Item and Medal Winners were announced on our Facebook page. However, many participants, teachers and parents expressed a desire for a formal award ceremony in order to acknowledge the achievements of those learners during these difficult times. For various reasons, as well as the restrictions on the number of people that could attend indoor events since the beginning of the third wave of infections, it was not possible for the NEA Office to present any award ceremony for this purpose.
Given the current Covid-19 restriction, it was not feasible to rent a theatre at a rate of R10,000 per day when only 50 people could be accommodated. However, Curro Aurora has offered the use of their Galaxy Hall for this purpose at a very reasonable rate, an offer which we gratefully accepted. For this reason an initial email went out on 11 August to establish the availability of recipients on either 28 Aug or 4 Sep.
In order to stay within the limits of the Covid-19 restrictions, we initially proposed to break down the ceremony into various sections:
Showcase 1: Gr. 0 – 3) :10:00 – 11:00
Showcase 2: Gr. 4 – 7: 12:00 – 13:00
Showcase 3: Gr. 8 – Open Section: 14:00 – 15:00
We also indicated in the initial letter that a limited number of top achievers in Eisteddfod 2020 will be invited to perform at these events and that we will have to charge a minimal entrance fee of R30 per person to cover the cost of renting the venue (no charge for award recipients).
The large number of responses received on this first letter clearly demonstrated the desire for an event as proposed, but also made it clear that we would not be able to accommodate all recipients and parents in the 3 sessions as initially proposed. For this reason it was finally decided to present the PERFORMERS awards on 4 Sep at Curro Aurora, while all ART awards will be presented on 28 Aug at the Alice Art Gallery. As it seems likely that it would be necessary to split some of the session into 2 or more parts in order to stay within the requirements of the Covid-19 protocol, we needed further confirmation of attendance and for this reason the following letter went out recently in different batches for Gr. 0 – 4, Gr. 5 – 6, Gr. 7 – 9, Gr. 10 – Open and Creative Arts; e.g.
“Dear Parent
“NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD OF SOUTH AFRICA® – SHOWCASE AWARDS PRESENTATION FOR TOP ACHIEVERS OF 2020 – SESSION 4: Gr. 10 – Open, 4 Sep 2021”
“This email is a follow-up on the enquiry sent on 11 August. Based on the feedback received on this communication it was decided to continue with the award presentation as proposed on the 4th of Sep. 2021.”
“As we need to comply with the Covid-19 restrictions that limit an indoor gathering to 50 people, we unfortunately need to limit attendance to one parent per invited participant. We currently have 40 invited award recipients for Session 2 (Gr. 5 – 6). We therefore need final confirmation of attendance in order to determine whether we need to split this session into 2 separate sessions. We will also post an update on our Facebook page whenever it becomes possible to accommodate more than one parent in any given session.”
“The current proposed time for Showcase 4: (Gr. 10 – Open) on 4 Sep 2021 is: 16:00 – 17:00. The venue is Curro Aurora, Taurus Rd, Sundowner, Randburg, 2188. A minimal entrance fee of R30 per person will be charged to cover the cost of renting the venue (no charge for award recipients).”
“You are urgently requested to accept/decline the invitation to this session to enable us to finalize the formal invitation to this event. For this purpose, kindly click on the “Showcase 4” link below before midnight on Friday 20 August. Please DO NOT reply to this email as no-reply@eisteddfod.co.za will reject all incoming email to protect our server. Kindly note that if you do not respond, we will accept that you are not able to attend.”
Each of these letters contained a link to an “EmailMeForm” at the bottom where parents could respond on.
In the interest of any participant that did not receive the previous communication, the details and links regarding the various sessions have been provided below. (Please note that when you have children in different grade groupings, you need to respond on the link for each child’s group.)
IMPORTANT: the reference to GRADE is the GRADE of the participant in 2020.
If you already have responded on any of these links, please DO NOT respond again. However, if you have not done so yet, you are urgently requested to do so not later than 11:00 am on Saturday 21 August. Kindly note that if you do not respond, we will accept that you are not able to attend.
Please note: Once this feedback has been processed, a detailed invitation with the finalized times then will be send out in the coming week.
