Welcome to the National English Olympiad Website 

 

  

2023 Study Guide memo
Suggested answers to the questions in the Study Guide have been provided by our Examiner. Please click the link below.

2023 Study Guide memo (suggested answers)

 

 

2023 English Olympiad - Call for Entries

The deadline for entries for the 2023 English Olympiad was 30 September 2022.  The Call for Entries is now closed.

2023 Call for Entries
2023 Entry Form

The 2023 English Olympiad is open to all learners (English HL and FAL) who will be in Grades 9 - 12 in 2023, that is, those learners who are currently in Grades 8 - 11.

Entry Fee: R100 per candidate
Closing date: Friday 30 September 2022
Theme for 2023: "Care and Compassion"
Prescribed Anthology: A Better World*

*The prescribed anthology is exclusively available to candidates who enter the 2023 Olympiad. 


2022 English Olympiad Winners

Click on the links below to view the Home Language Top 100 and First Additional Language Top 20 rankings for the 2022 English Olympiad:


2022 Home Language Top 20

Rank

Name

School

1 Khelan Desai St John's College

2

Melinda Reyneke

Pretoria Chinese School

3

Zahra Kücük

Roedean School South Africa

4

Katya Jamie

St Cyprian's School

5

Shannon Blades

Durban Girls' College

6

Ilani-Mari Prinsloo

St Anne's Diocesan College

7

Yaseen Romaney

Westerford High School 

8

Abigail Oberhölzer

St John's DSG

9

Nerissa Rajkaran

Crawford College La Lucia 

10

Gia Antoni

St Cyprian's School

11

Ayush Desai

St John's College

12

Rachel MacIntyre Pinelands High School 

13

Sonali Mahabeer Durban Girls' College 

14

Rachel Taljard Ashton Ballito College 

15

Nadia Jackson Springfield Convent 

16

Zora Merkofer Durban Girls' College 

17

Hannah Sieberhagen Collegiate High School for Girls

18

Lucien Dimtchev Deutsche Internationale Schule, JHB 

19

Grace Ross St Anne's Diocesan College

20

Corali Reed Brescia House School

2022 First Additional Language Top 20
Rank Name School
 1 Panashe Manyengawane Blue Hills College
 2 Ravele Ramabulana Mbilwi Secondary School
 3 Makafane Ntlamelle Machabeng College Lesotho 
 4 Mfanelo Baloyi Khanyisa Education Centre
 5 Fariha Santi Machabeng College Lesotho
 6 Chevonne Erasmus Curro Hermanus
 7 Poloko Hlalele Machabeng College Lesotho
 8 Shané Visser Langenhoven Gimnasium
 9 Limakatso Liphoto Machabeng College Lesotho
 10 Zimbini Sintwa Ntsika Secondary School
 11 Karabo Malatji Khanyisa Education Centre
 12 Mutshidzi Nemadodzi Mbilwi Secondary School
 13 Lillian Snyman Gymnasium High School, Paarl
 14 Khotsofalo Shale Machabeng College Lesotho
 15 Anla de Wet DF Malherbe High School
 16 Anine Farrell Hoërskool Nelspruit
 17 Thandolwethu Zwane Aha-Thuto Secondary
 18 Warona Mkwanazi Khanyisa Education Centre 
 19 Igoline Mukondeleli Coelho Mbilwi Secondary School
 20 Shikombiso Ngobene Khanyisa Education Centre

Results for the 2022 Olympiad

The results for the 2022 English Olympiad are now available for teachers to view on this website.  To view your school's results please log in with your school's Username and Password. Contact the Olympiad Officer if you do not have these.  Please note that ONLY teachers registered by the Olympiad will have their school's login details sent to them. Only registered teachers may log in to view these results. 

How teachers may view their school's Olympiad results:

Once you have logged in, click on "Entries" in the grey task bar.  Your candidates list should appear with symbols in the Results column next to the names of candidates who wrote the exam.

What the symbols mean:

D - Diamond (90-100%)
G - Gold (80-89%)
S - Silver (70-79%)
B - Bronze (60-69%)
M - Merit (50-59%)
P - Participation (under 50%)
U - Unclassified (did not complete paper / insufficient answers)

 

 

 

2022 English Olympiad

The 2022 Olympiad exam was written on Tuesday 8 March 2022.


2022 Study Guide resources

Suggested response to the questions in the Study Guide are now available.  Please click on the link below-

2022 Study Guide memo - A Brave New World

Please note: Some of the questions in the Study Guide are open-ended and do not have definitive answers.  The suggested responses included in the memo should therefore not be viewed as 'model answers'.

  

 

The 2nd place candidate 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!

 
Achievements of the English Olympiad as a project
2015
The De Beers English Olympiad won a medal in the Academic Achievements category of the Eastwave Radio Nelson Mandela International  Day Community Leadership Awards in August 2015.
2014
The De Beers English Olympiad was a DEVELOPMENT AWARD FINALIST in the 17th Annual Business Day Business Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards partnered by Hollard. The achievement was celebrated at the BASA Awards on 26 August 2014.

            News and Updates

  • Entries for the 2023 ENGLISH OLYMPIAD are now closed.
  • The theme for the 2023 English Olympiad is "Care and Compassion".
  • HELP for English Teachers. See Teaching English Today by clicking here for more information.
  • Find past Olympiad exam papers and study guides by going to the "Exam Materials" tab at the top of this page.
  • You may wish to visit the DICTIONARY OF SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH at: http://dsae.co.za/

  

PARTNERS AND SPONSORS 

 The English Olympiad is a joint project between the Grahamstown Foundation and the South African Council for English Education (SACEE).

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Grahamstown Foundation

For information about other Grahamstown Foundation Arts Education projects, please visit: 
http://schoolsfestival.wordpress.com/ 
and 

http://www.foundation.org.za/#  

 

 South African Council for English Education

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South African Council for English Education (SACEE) National Website: http://www.sacee.org.za/



Prize partner and sponsor

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Rhodes University has

sponsored the Top 50 Scholarships

for over 15 years.

www.ru.ac.za