Welcome to the De Beers English Olympiad Website 

NB: Teachers are required to log in to view their school's entries and results.

Study Guide Memo

Please note that the answers offered are suggestions and other responses may be valid.

Answers have only been supplied for the individual work questions. Group questions should vary greatly in responses.

Click on the link below to access the Study Guide Memo:

Study Guide Memo 2020

2020 Call for Entries

Please note that entries have closed for the 2020 English Olympiad.  If you missed the closing date, please try again in August 2020 when we will be open for entries to the 2021 Olympiad.

Calling all English Olympiad enthusiasts!  We are gearing up for the 2020 English Olympiad.  Our theme for 2020 is "Consequences" and the anthology is entitled Aftermath. 

The English Olympiad is open to all learners (HL and FAL English) who will be in Grades 9 - 12 in 2020, that is, those learners who are currently in Grades 8 - 11.

Entry fee: R125 per entry

Closing date: 11 October 2019

Please click on the links below to download the Call for Entries and Entry Form for 2020:

Call for Entries - for information about the Olympiad, how to enter and prizes up for grabs.

Entry Form - please complete this form to enter, and email/fax it to the Olympiad Officer before the closing date.

2019 RESULTS!!!

The 2019 HL Top 100 and FAL Top 18 are available for download! Please click on the links below:

HL Top 100

FAL Top 18

Well done to all schools and candidates that took part! 

To check your school's full results, please log on with your username and password to access them.  Click on the "Entries" tab.

2019 English Olympiad Winners!

Back row: Bianca Nel, Oudtshoorn High School; Dewan Barnard, Oudtshoorn High School; Caro Botha, Parel Vallei High School; Bianca Jardim, Rhenish Girls' High School; Marcelle Rademeyer, St Cyprian's School; Michaela Scholtz, Durban Girls' High School.

Middle row: Emily Barnes, Parktown High School for Girls; Yunan Liu, Maru-A-Pula School Botswana; Kerin Stead, York High School; Caitlyn Venter, St Dominic's Priory School; Amira Karstaedt, King David High School Victory Park; Max Millela, St John's College; Caitlin Honeywell, Durban Girls' College.

Front row: Katherine Duvenage, Roedean School SA (HL 3rd place winner); Shannon Morrison, Cornwall Hill College (HL 1st place winner); Lethokuhle Khumalo, Port Shepstone High School (FAL 1st place winner).

 2019 English Olympiad HL TOP 20 in RANK ORDER!

Click here for an explanation of the symbols.

 Saul Musker, 2nd place in the 2012 English Olympiad, reflects on writing the exam:

Isaac Asimov, the celebrated American science fiction writer, once declared: ‘If the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I'd type a little faster.’ Reading this quote, my mind wandered to the top-corridor English classroom where I recently wrote my last English Olympiad, with Mrs Leaver’s voice in the distance: ‘Six minutes left, everyone! Hurry along!’ Six minutes left! Lord have mercy! It wasn’t that I was worried about time; I had just finished my last piece, and was about to give it a final read-over. No; I owed my despair instead to the realisation that I would never write another Olympiad. For me, the Olympiad is more than just another exam or competition. It is protected time for creativity; a dedicated three hours devoted to writing. I only wish I could write one every day, to escape the usual chaos of our existence, to let the ink pour out of my grateful mind. F Scott Fitzgerald observed that ‘all good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.’ So dive, ye stranger! Submerge yourself in the cool green waters of your imagination, of the English language, of this moment in time!