The South African National English Olympiad
A joint project of SACEE and the Grahamstown Foundation

History of the English Olympiad

The English Olympiad started as a small project in 1976 when Dr Malcolm Venter, a member of the Eastern Cape branch committee of SACEE (and now the Council’s National Chairperson) was asked to organise such an event locally. The first competition attracted 119 entries and the winner received a prize of R50.  (Nowadays the top prize is R25 000!)

The following year the Grahamstown Foundation took on responsibility for the administration of the Olympiad, while SACEE retained control of the academic aspects of the project, and the competition was extended to cover the whole of the Cape Province.  In 1978 the project was further extended to include all of South Africa, and when a First Additional Language (FAL) stream was added to the project in 2015 the number of entries grew to more than 8 000 from more than 400 schools nationwide.    

SACEE is proud of the ongoing success of the English Olympiad project, and is grateful to the Grahamstown Foundation (its partner in the project since 1977) for its highly professional organisation and administrative support, to Rhodes University for its generous scholarship prizes for the top fifty prize winners, and to the De Beers Foundation for past financial assistance.

The Eastern Cape branch of SACEE remains responsible for the academic aspects of the competition, having provided most of the examiners since the inception of the project, as well as an army of well-qualified and experienced markers and moderators.

What is the English Olympiad?

The English Olympiad is a programme of self-study involving resource material that aims to enrich and to deepen candidates’ appreciation of the English language and its literature, and to expose them to interesting texts and ideas that they would not normally encounter in a standard school syllabus.  It is open to all secondary schools in Southern Africa, and their learners in Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12.

From the start, SACEE decided to use an ‘open book’ examination format, allowing examiners to ask questions that are open-ended and require more personal responses than typical questions encountered in high school examinations.

The annual Olympiad examinations (HL and FAL) take place at schools throughout South Africa on the first Tuesday in March each year.

Although printed anthologies and study guides have been distributed to candidates in the past, the success of the 2026 on-line study guide and the need to contain costs (so as to keep the entry fee affordable) have led to the decision that for the 2027 Olympiad all study material will be provided on line, with printable versions.  (See below for more details.)

For further details, please contact:

       The Olympiad Officer, PO Box 304, Grahamstown 6140
       E-Mail:  olympiad@foundation.org.za
       Tel:  046 603 1115 / 046 603 1114

🏆 2026 English Olympiad – Congratulations to Our Winners!🏆

Group photo from L to R: Anja van der Berg (4th), Eduplex High School; Alexa Ashaba (5th), Herschel Girls’ School; Lisebo Motilane (FAL 3rd), Machabeng College; Arabella Molefi (1st), Future Nation Schools Fleurhof; Aidan Randall (6th), Eden Schools Durban; Nkanyezi Nyathaba (8th), Sacred Heart College; Kaetochi Ordor (10th), Bridge House School.

We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the 2026 English Olympiad participants!

This year’s Olympiad explored the theme “Victim or Victor”, with the set anthology, We Have a Choice, featuring a carefully selected collection of poetry and extracts. The anthology was accompanied by a study guide prepared by the 2026 Chief Examiner, Hillary Lewis-Soma.

The examination was written on 3 March 2026, with candidates from schools across South Africa taking part. A total of 5 030 entries from 242 schools were received for the 2026 Olympiad.

🌟 Congratulations to Our Winners!

HL Winner, Arabella Molefi from Future Nation Schools Fleurhof with Yvette Morgan, SACEE EC Chairperson

Home Language (HL) TOP 20 in RANK ORDER:

FAL 3rd place winner, Lisebo Motilane from Machabeng College with Tasneem Dolley, 2026 FAL examiner

First Additional Language (FAL) Top 5 in RANK ORDER:

The prize-giving took place during the midyear National Schools Festival at the 1820 Settlers’ National Monument in Grahamstown/Makhanda. The event also marked the launch of the Olympiad’s new digital model of delivery.

A huge congratulations to all our participants, finalists and winners! Your dedication, hard work and passion for English are truly inspiring. We look forward to celebrating even more young literary achievers in the years ahead!

Well done to everyone who took part in the 2026 English Olympiad! 

View the full Home Language Top 100 list here, or for the First Additional Language Top 19 list here.

For information regarding previous years’ winners, please click on the year below: