NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD ACADEMY AWARDS 2009

26 young performers in music, dance and drama for sixth annual awards at the UJ Arts Centre Theatre.

A total of 26 young performers in music, dance and drama will be featured at the sixth annual National Eisteddfod Academy Awards to be presented at the UJ Arts Centre Theatre on May 16, 2009.

These young artists will compete for the NEA Awards in the categories Best Junior and Senior Performers. A total amount of R20,000 in prize money is at stake. Bursaries to the value of R166,000 sponsored by Academy College, the first independent sports and arts school in the country, will be awarded to top achievers in the NEA Awards 2009.

Recent winners of this event include Andile Ndlovu and Camille Bracher who both were top achievers in the International Ballet Competition held in Cape Town last year. Andile was also one of the finalists in DanceDanceDance presented by KykNet. The Junior top achiever in dance 2008, Rachel Beth Davidson, was recently accepted into the People to People Leadership Summit at Harvard University, Massachusetts. Some of the other winners are currently furthering their studies in the arts at various universities.

The National Eisteddfod Academy (NEA) (a non-profit arts organization) established the National Eisteddfod Academy Awards in 2004 in an endeavour to address the need for a prestigious platform where the best young performers in music, dance and drama can compete and showcase their talents. Since 2006 top achievers in any existing eisteddfods and festival may also enter for the NEA Awards.

This final event was preceded by an elimination process that started last year with the annual NEA Eisteddfod. Top achievers in this eisteddfod (involving more than13,800 entries from various provinces) were invited to enter for the NEA Awards. More than 1,600 entries were received which was adjudicated during a first round of events in March 2009. This was followed daily by a quarter final event. The adjudicators had the prerogative to call back a limited number of performers daily to perform again in order to nominate the semi-final candidates. The semi-final event engaged 160 candidates in the various disciplines which were eventually reduced to the final 26 candidates. Adjudicators expected from each participant or group an outstanding and true performance that displayed originality and spark.

The starting time of the event is 19h00 and booking is through Computicket.

For more information regarding the National Eisteddfod Academy and details of participating in the event log onto www.eisteddfod.co.za or contact the NEA on 011 886 6005 / info@eisteddfod.co.za