Amazing work created in South Africa’s 10 indigenous national languages was celebrated at The Pendoring Awards, which took place on 31 October 2019 at the University of Johannesburg’s Art Centre.
The 2019 Pendoring entrants included a variety of striking executions by South Africa’s top creative agencies and students of Creative Communication at tertiary institutions, all created in indigenous languages.
The Awards saw a total of 21 gold statues handed out. Apart from the two overall awards, ten of these are single-entry golds, three are campaign craft gold, four are campaign gold and the remaining four, craft gold.
The Prestigious Umpetha Winner, TBWA/Hunt Lascaris, took home two campaign craft golds and one campaign gold. The North-West University, who dominated the student category, won both a gold and a craft gold. Pendoring also awarded 23 silvers and 31 craft certificates on the night.
The complete list of winners can be viewed here.
The Pendoring Advertising Awards are 24 years old this year. Originally created in 1995 to promote and stimulate the use of Afrikaans in advertising, the Pendoring has gone through a number of changes to celebrate all of South Africa’s indigenous languages.
This year’s event was hosted by Hulisani Ravele and Schalk Bezuidenhout backed up by Bombshelter Beast, with local cuisine and entertainment setting the scene for a local celebration. ‘It’s our collective responsibility to create an enabling environment for our indigenous languages to thrive. By putting local languages at the heart of creativity we can begin to entrench multilingualism and celebrate the rich cultural diversity of our society. The Pendoring Awards are excited to have UNESCO and the South African National Commission for UNESCO as endorsement partners starting this year as part of The Year of Indigenous Languages campaign,’ said Pendoring organiser Eben Keun.
Pendoring is unique in that it is the only advertising competition in SA with substantial cash prizes, not only for the overall winners but also for gold and silver winners in each category. The overall winner across all categories will enjoy an overseas trip worth R100,000 as a part of the Prestigious Umpetha Award. The overall student winner walks away with a cool R10,000, while every winner of a gold Pendoring receives R6000 and the silver award winners walk away with R2500 each.
The judges included: Steph van Niekerk (Creative Director – WPP Liquid), Molefi Thulo (Creative Director – Ogilvy), Claudia Potter (Creative Director – Joe Public); Khaya Mtshali (Designer – IBM iX), Marcus Moshapalo (Senior Creative Director – MC Saatchi), Mpumi Ngwenya-Tshabangu (Creative Group Head – Riverbed Agency), Mukondi Ralushayi Kgomo (Co-Founder of Think Creative Africa), Nkgabiseng Motau (Co-Founder of Think Creative Africa), Sunshine Shibambo (Managing Director – Cheri Yase Kasi), Seth Beukes (Art Director – Bain & Bunkell), Grant Sithole (Chief Creative Officer – Avatar Agency), Khanyi Mpumlwana (Senior Copywriter – FCB) and Nico Botha (Creative Director – Joe Public).
The 2019 Pendoring Awards Judge and Creative Director at FCB Africa, Khanyi Mpumlwana, said, ‘The fact that each entry is underpinned by skilled craftsmanship and emotionally engaging storytelling is evidence that quality work is being submitted this year, which I’m excited about. The best Pendoring entries are ideas in the mother tongue that become concepts and then campaigns. Translations just don’t cut it.’
