Karoo Youth Essay Contest – KYEC 2025
Organization : Karoo
Competition Name : Karoo Youth Essay Contest – KYEC
Applicable For : South African citizen
Entries Open : 02.04.2025
Entries Close : 31.05.2025
Prize : Money, Or A Gold Medal
Website : https://karoo.world/
Karoo Youth Essay Contest
Karoo is the Organiser of the Karoo Youth Essay Contest (KYEC); The annual Karoo Youth Essay Contest (KYEC) supports the strategic objective of Karoo, which is to ensure a better South Africa for more people, through the architecture of Influential Leadership.
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Time Line
Entries Open : 02.04.2025
Entries Close : 31.05.2025
Top 10 Announced & Voting Starts / Ends : 16.06.2025 / 01.07.2025
Top Three Announced : 07.07.2025
Prizes Awarded : 14.07.2025
KYEC 2025 Theme
** Practicing Influential Leadership for a better South Africa. The theme sets the context and framework for how the two essay topics should be interpreted.
Topics
The topics will be revealed on 02.04.19. There will be two or three to choose from.
#1. If I were President of South Africa for a day, I would…
#2. I am responsible for my own successes in life…
#3. My plan for saving lives on South African roads…
Entry Terms & Conditions
** A contestant must be a South African citizen;
** A contestant may NOT BE younger than 14, and NOT older than 18 years old on the last day that the contest is open;
** One (1) essay per contestant;
** Essays must be submitted in the ENGLISH language;
** A contestant must choose to write their essay based on ONE OF THE TOPICS provided, taking into account the GENERAL THEME defined by the Organiser;
** Entries must include a TITLE;
** The essay LENGTH must be between 5,500 characters (800 words) and 7,000 characters (1,250 words), excluding the heading. The Organiser will use word-count as the determinant;
** A contestant must REGISTER and LOGIN on the Karoo website to access the Essay Entry Platform;
** A contestant must provide a USERNAME and an EMAIL ADDRESS to register on the Karoo website.
** A contestant must submit their essay via the Karoo Essay Entry platform by 24h00 (South African time) on the CLOSING DAY of the KYEC (2025);
** Once an essay has been submitted, it CANNOT BE ALTERED OR EDITED, or re-submitted. Contestants are advised to check and revise their work before submitting the final copy;
** The TOP TEN essays will be determined from all the eligible entries;
** The Top Ten essays may be subject to both the panel of judges AND a public voting process to determine the winner and two runners-up; the PUBLIC VOTING process will be via the Karoo website;
** The Top Three essay authors will be required to PROVIDE PROOF of their nationality, age and any other data as may be determined by the Organiser. Failure to do this within the prescribed time will disqualify the entry;
Prizes
** Success, top achievement deserves recognition and reward.
** While money, or a gold medal, are the obvious forms of rewarding a certain kind of success; there are more subtle rewards, such as the feeling of achievement, and the applause, the admiration, and the respect, that are received.
** For Karoo and Influential Leadership, the greatest reward of success is the affirmative example that is set.
** Karoo would like to suggest that the enduring rewards for all entrants is that they have an opportunity to influence SA for the better.
** However, Influential Leadership is also a strong proponent of competition, which potentially brings out the best in us, individually and collectively, thus, there must be a tangible prize for those who are winners.
** In 2025, the winner can look forward to a hefty First Prize!
Judging Criteria
** Alignment with the defined theme and selected topic – 50%;
** Persuasiveness, creativity and originality of the story – 30%; and
** Flair and quality of writing – 20%.
Judges :
** The adjudication panel for the Karoo Youth Essay Contest (2025) is currently being assembled, and will be confirmed in due course.
** We are delighted that two of the independent judges from 2021 have again volunteered their services.
** The panel represents South Africans who choose to lead, who exercise excellence in their chosen fields and most importantly, care about the success of South Africa.