Welcome to the De Beers English Olympiad Website 

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

2021 Call for Entries

Calling all English Olympiad enthusiasts!   Entries are now open for the 46^th National English Olympiad that is due to be held on Tuesday, 2 March 2021.

The Olympiad takes the form of an “open book” examination.  The theme for 2021 is “People and Personas” and the prescribed anthology is entitled This is My Story.  Candidates will enjoy a short selection of interesting writings that includes poetry, prose and a dramatic monologue.

The English Olympiad is open to all learners (HL and FAL English) who will be in Grades 9 - 12 in 2021, that is, those learners who are currently in Grades 8 - 11.

Entry fee: R90 per candidate

Closing date: 21 October 2020

Please click on the links below to download the 2021 Call for Entries and Entry Form:

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

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

RESULTS for the 2020 English Olympiad now available!

The results for the 2020 English Olympiad are now available for teachers to view on this website.  To view your school's results please log in with your Username and Password (contact the Olympiad Officer if you do not have these).  Please note that ONLY teachers have these credentials and may log in the view results.

Congratulations to all candidates!

How to view your Olympiad results

Teachers must log in with their Username and Password.  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:

 2020 Home Language (HL) TOP 20 in RANK ORDER!

2020 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

 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!