Zeus wins big at President�s Day finals
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Friday July 25, 2014 14:09
The best video award at the President’s Day arts competitions is the most lucrative with the next big pay being a P25,000 cash prize going to winners in groups and bands.
On the prize-giving day there were also double winners in the fine arts and basketry, who pocketed P20,000 each.
This year also saw new introductions in the annual arts competitions.
The theatre categories further produced Best Playwright, Best Play Director, Best actor and Best Actress. Another new entry, modelling, produced male and female winners.
In fact, President Ian Khama this year only awarded prizes to the winners in the new categories and the Best Music Video.
The other few that shook hands with the President were the winners in Best Newcomer, Best Jewellery Maker, Best Dressmaker categories.
According to the Acting Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture Vincent Seretse, this year P3 million of the budget went to prizes alone.
Seretse, who is also the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) parliamentary candidate for Ntsweletau-Mmopane, announced that since inception in 2008, the President’s Day arts competitions have grown in leaps and bounds.
From 3,274 artists taking part in the inaugural edition back in 2008, participation grew 10 fold in the seventh year to some 32,000 participants, according to Seretse.
For the second year running, government issued trophies to the winners, along with cash prizes.