Umar battles the bully and wins the 2022 Story Stars competition!

Statement by Minister David Maynier, Minister of Education Western Cape

This morning, I visited Blossom Street Primary School in Athlone to announce Umar Jones as the 2022 winner, and to premiere the next instalment of “Story Stars: The adventures of Felix and Felicity”, which now includes Umar as a character alongside Felix and Felicity.

Today, I also launched the 2023 Story Stars competition. Story Stars is an annual creative writing competition for all Grade 4 learners in the Western Cape.

It features Felix and Felicity and their ongoing adventures, along with other exciting characters. The stories come directly from the creative minds of our Western Cape Grade 4 learners, with new characters being introduced each year, taking us to wild and imaginative places.

The winner of the competition has the chance to narrate and star in their own story. This is animated and included in an ongoing film about the adventures of Felix and Felicity, which is introduced to the new cohort of Grade 4 of learners each year.

The Story Stars film can be viewed or downloaded at: https://wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za/story-stars

Umar was approached discreetly at the end of last year, so that we could record his voice for the animated film that was revealed today.

Umar follows in the footsteps of our 2020 Story Stars winner from Philadelphia Primary School, Keschrie Booysen, and our 2021 winner, Xia Du Toit from Laerskool Mikro, in the Story Stars hall of fame!

Umar’s story – Battling the Bully! – has a unifying and important message about bullying. It was also very creative, with new imaginative characters such as ‘Ashtastic’ the flying unicorn, which the animators were very excited to animate. Felix is also seen rapping for the first time!

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But importantly, the story was also chosen because of Umar’s use of the correct punctuation, spelling and vocabulary throughout his submission.  Congratulations!

I also congratulate his teacher, Ms Andrea Liddle, for inspiring her class to participate and produce such good creative writing skills, and his former principal, Mr Davids who has since retired.

This year, two other learners in the school were also placed in 5^th and 6^th place. Ms Liddle keeps producing these budding writers as the 2^nd place winner from last year was also in her class!

Well done to our second and third place winners, Blair Davids from Northwood Primary School (2nd) and Kenzo Segals from Rietenbosch Primêr (3rd) for their wonderful stories.

Top 6 entries for 2022

After a lengthy adjudication process, the top 6 winning stories were selected:

2023 competition

The 2023 Grade 4 learners of the Western Cape can now write the next instalment of Felix and Felicity’s adventures.  The idea behind the competition is to get learners excited about creative writing and the opportunities it can bring. By having an animated version of the story, learners can really see their stories come to life!

In a survey of a class of Grade 4 learners in 2019, it was evident that their interests lay in watching cartoons and becoming YouTube stars! The WCED decided to create a competition which encouraged reading and creative writing, that could ultimately result in an animated film – written, narrated and starred in by the winner themselves. 

Grade 4 teachers are encouraged to help their learners read the story booklet which has been provided to schools, watch the animation film, and then finish the story by including themselves as a character.

Teachers have been provided with a matrix to assist them with marking the creative story and must please submit the winning entry from their class to the Department by 14 April 2023.

Prizes

In addition to writing, starring in and narrating the video, which will be watched by thousands of learners across the Western Cape, the Story Stars winner also received a tablet, book bag and branded stationery. The winning school also receives a R10 000 transfer payment for learning and teaching support material. 

The 2nd and 3rd prize winners each received a tablet, book bag and stationery. 

I encourage all Grade 4 teachers to show their classes the latest video and booklet, complete the next series and submit their winning stories.

We can’t wait to see who our next Story Star will be!

2021 winner: Xia Du Toit from Laerskool Mikro

2020 winner: Keschrie Booysen, Philadelphia Primary School

Media Enquiries:
Kerry Mauchline
Spokesperson to Minister David Maynier
Western Cape Ministry of Education
Kerry.Mauchline@westerncape.gov.za