Pemphero Mphande’s short story writing contest gets K15m boost from Kings Foundation
Kings Foundation Schools—a premier private education institution—has increased to MK15 million its sponsorship for the 2024 Pemphero Mphande’s short story writing competition.
Speaking on Monday in Lilongwe, Kings Foundation Schools Managing Director, Chisanzo Hiwa, said the institution strengthened its partnership with renowned social media influencer Pemphero Mphande to bankroll the contest again this year.
In 2023, Kings Foundation Schools kick-started the partnership by pumping MK12 million into the contest, which seeks to promote a reading and writing culture in Malawi.
Hiwa hailed the writing competition, describing it as “the only” literary prize offering a platform for reading and writing.
“It also promotes critical thinking in students and the general public, including our own students as an institution.
“We saw that the reading culture is dying in the country and sponsoring the contest can change the situation for the better.
“We cannot just be using the money we earn on ourselves as a business entity. We have a social responsibility, including providing essential services to the public”.
Mphande said he is excited with his team that Kings Foundation Schools have again sponsored the contest this year, adding “they will deliver another high contest”.
“The aim is to resuscitate a reading and writing culture which is really dying.
“We hope that the young people, especially who are the biggest chunk of those participating, can write more and win.
“We are especially embracing writers that are modern and thinking differently, extraordinary story tellers that depart from the conventional and traditional ways of telling stories”.
The Pemphero Mphande’s short story writing competition, which Mphande himself founded and started in 2021, has four categories, including a main category targeting everyone, university and secondary schools categories and a newly introduced primary schools category.
According to Mphande, in the 2024 contest, which is the 4th edition, the overall winner in the main category will cart home MK1 million.
There will be MK350,000 for winners in university and secondary schools categories, respectively. MK200,000 for the winner in the primary schools category.
Meanwhile, Hiwa announced that Kings Foundation Schools, as a private institution contributing to advancement and improvement of education, delinked its co-education facility into boys and girls institutions—boys academy in Ntcheu and Rose Girls Academy in Lilongwe.
“This is for continuous improvement. We saw that we can do much better if the schools are delinked,” he said.
Concurring with Hiwa, Rose Girls Academy’s Head Teacher, Noel Kamfose, said the academy is in a good state of preparedness for the 2024/2025 academic year, after the delinking in 2023/2024.
“We saw to it that 96 percent of our students passed the just released JCE exams. And we are optimistic that we will do better in the yet to be released MSCE results.
“We are also implementing some best practices, including enhancing girls performance by offering them a holistic type of education and giving incentives to those doing well in class”.
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