Albert Luthuli Young Historians' Oral History Competition 2011

Entries for the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historians' Award have commenced. Started in 2005, the competition is open to all learners between Grades 8 and 11, and all history educators in secondary schools.

This prize was initiated by the South African Department of Basic Education, in partnership with South African History Online. The aim is to encourage the study of oral history in schools.

Hundreds of learners and educators are afforded the opportunity to first compete in the regional competition held in all the nine provinces of South Africa. Through a rigorous selection process, which includes giving an oral presentation and a written portfolio, entrants have to excel in the regional leg in order to advance to the national leg of the competition.

SAHA has supported the competition in recent years, through adjudicating the competition at district, provincial and national level. SAHA also provides training and resources on conducting oral history projects to educators and learners. Some of this work is profiled in the SAHA documentary and guide ‘Meeting history face to face'. The documentary can be viewed, and the guidebook downloaded for free from SAHA's website.

SAHA is also responsible for archiving the portfolios of the finalists of the competition each year in SAHA Collection AL3285 :: The Department of Education Nkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historians' Oral History Collection. These portfolios can be consulted by the public at SAHA's offices at Wits, and excerpts from this collection have been included in SAHA's online exhibition ‘Hear our history: an introduction to learning and teaching oral history'

For more information on SAHA's oral history projects and oral history education, please contact Catherine Kennedy.