The campaign winners are announced!

2017 Web Rangers Award Ceremony – the campaign winners are announced!

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) is proud to announce Khutlo-Tharo Secondary School and Park Senior Primary as the overall winners of the 2017 Web Rangers Digital Literacy Campaign competition in the high school and primary school categories. MMA made the announcement during an awards ceremony held at The Pyramid Conference and Venue Centre in Johannesburg on 23 September 2017.

Web Rangers is an international programme implemented in various countries such as New Zealand, India and Kenya. In South Africa, the initiative is led by MMA in South Africa together with local partners, Google SA, Facebook, the Film Publication Board (FPB), MTN, PPM Attorneys and Digital You.

Web Rangers encourages young people to champion safer internet behaviours within their schools and communities through the creation of innovative campaigns that promote their rights and active participation in the digital world.

This year 160 children were recruited from 16 schools in Johannesburg and trained on how to navigate and take advantage of the digital space. According to the Web Rangers Project coordinator, the theme for this year was centred on using the internet to create a better South Africa. “Being a Web Ranger ambassador is not only about being informed about online safety. We hope the Web Rangers will continue to work towards a national call to action to ensure that young people take charge of their knowledge and extend it to other younger people so they too can realise the potential of the internet when used responsibly.”

The Web Rangers campaigns submitted for this year’s competition was adjudicated by a panel of judges including social media experts and children from MMA’s Children’s News Agency. According to Khumalo, both of the overall winning campaigns scored highly in terms of clear objectives, social impact and engaging content. “The campaigns showed a combination of technical skills and innovative and thinking in the execution of the campaign.”

Madibane Comprehensive High School came second and Thaba Jabula Secondary School’s campaign was awarded the third prize winner in the high school category. Both schools are based in Soweto. Parkhurst Primary was named runner-up in the Primary School Category.

Director at MMA, William Bird congratulated the winners, “not only have the winners shown great commitment to online safety and making SA a better place, they have also shone a bright light on the skills of our young people. Giving us hope for our future.”