Welcome to the National English Olympiad Website
2023 Study Guide memo (suggested answers)
The deadline for entries for the 2023 English Olympiad was 30 September 2022. The Call for Entries is now closed.
2023 Call for Entries2023 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.
Click on the links below to view the Home Language Top 100 and First Additional Language Top 20 rankings for the 2022 English Olympiad:
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 |
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 |
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)
The 2022 Olympiad exam was written on Tuesday 8 March 2022.
Suggested response to the questions in the Study Guide are now available. Please click on the link below-
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!
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).
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
South African Council for English Education (SACEE) National Website: http://www.sacee.org.za/
Prize partner and sponsor
Rhodes University has
sponsored the Top 50 Scholarships
for over 15 years.
www.ru.ac.za