WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY DAY LAUNCH FOR THIRD
EDITION OF DSTV EUTELSAT STAR AWARDS
As part of
their commemoration of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day
(WTISD) MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat Communications announced the return of
the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards for 2013.
The awards inspire innovative thinking among secondary and high school
students in Africa, to create awareness on how science and technology can be
applied to everyday life, and to showcase the many ways that satellites already
impact on the development of the African continent.
According to Nico Meyer, Chief Executive of
MultiChoice Africa, the 2013 awards are perfectly aligned with the objective of
WTISD, namely to raise awareness of the impact of information and communication
technologies (ICTs), and in particular satellites, on society. “The new edition of the Star Awards challenge
high school student from over 42 African countries to propose how they would
use the satellites in space to address three community, country or African
continental priorities” he added.
The annual awards, which grew from 800
entries in 2011 to over 1000 last year take the form of a competition open to
14-19 year-old students to write an essay or design a poster on the specified
topic. Country winners, besides winning exciting country prizes, will go on to
compete against each other for the overall continental awards. Like their 2011 and 2012 counterparts, this
year’s overall essay and poster winners will win a once in a lifetime trip for
two to the Eutelsat facilities in Paris, with the essay winner traveling
onwards to witness a live rocket launch.
Runners up will win a trip to South Africa as guests of MultiChoice
Africa. Schools attended by the overall
winners will also receive a DStv installation, including dish, television,
state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.
For Eutelsat Chief Executive, Michel de Rosen,
the ability of the competition to stimulate thinking among young Africans on
the application of satellite technology to shape society and economies,
combined with first hand exposure of winners to the technology in action, is a
unique offering. “The awards present us with an opportunity to actively
stimulate and showcase emerging science and technology talent on the African
continent,“ he said. According to de
Rosen, the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards is, as far as can be established, the only
competition aimed at promoting knowledge and understanding of satellite
technology among African youth and to kindle their interest to explore the
exciting career paths and opportunities that the world of satellites
offer: “We are delighted as a leading
satellite telecommunications business to celebrate the 2013 World
Telecommunication and Information Society Day in such a fitting and appropriate
manner.” 
The power of the awards to enrich lives is
attested to by 2012 best essay winner Oyom Anthony from Uganda for who his
recent trip to Paris and French Guiana was an exhilarating experience. Says Anthony: “The tour of Paris was breath-taking,
and the visit to the Guiana Space Centre was very enriching and educative.
Meeting and interacting with the various stakeholders in the launch programs at
Kourou was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and as I flew back here, I
reflected a lot on the achievements of these amazing persons and the lessons we
could learn from them.”
Students can enter
the awards by collecting an entry form and other resources from their nearest
MultiChoice office or download a copy at www.dstvstarawards.com. Entries for the
awards close on 19 September 2013.
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About
Eutelsat Communications (www.eutelsat.com)
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL,
ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity
commercialised on 28 satellites that provide coverage across Europe, as well as
the Middle East, Africa and significant parts of Asia and the Americas,
Eutelsat is one of the world's three leading satellite operators. As of 31
March 2013, Eutelsat’s satellites were broadcasting more than 4,600 television
channels to over 200 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle
East and Africa. The Group’s satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and
mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate
networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for
transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary,
Skylogic, markets and operates high speed Internet services through teleports
in France and Italy that serve consumers, enterprises, local communities,
government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the
Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ just
over 750 commercial, technical and operational professionals. This culturally
diverse staff comprises employees from 30 countries.
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For further information
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Press
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Vanessa O’Connor
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Tel. : + 33 1 53 98 37 91
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Frédérique Gautier
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Tel. : + 33 1 53 98 37 91
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Analysts and Investors
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Lisa Finas
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Tel. : +33 1 53 98 35 30
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About MultiChoice Africa
MultiChoice
Africa Limited (“MultiChoice Africa”) is an African pioneer of pay TV services
in sub-Sahara Africa, having launched the first digital satellite service in
the 1980s. The company is registered in
Mauritius, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Naspers Group. MultiChoice
Africa provides multi-channel digital pay television services containing
channels from Africa, America, China, India, Asia and Europe. The company has
over twenty years experience as a Pay TV operator in Africa, offering
cutting-edge digital technology and a selection of DStv bouquets containing premium
television channels for subscribers in 47 African countries and the adjacent
Indian Ocean islands.
MultiChoice
Africa provides its digital satellite television service – DStv - to
subscribers’ homes from two different satellites, namely: the Intelsat 7 (“IS
7”) Ku BAND and Eutelsat W7 (“W7”) Ku Band.
MultiChoice
Africa provides a dynamic technology platform and assembles a range of bouquets built around compelling news, as
well as premium movies, documentaries and sports channels for subscribers. Our
mission is to constantly be at the cutting edge of new technology that enables
DStv subscribers to enjoy the very best home television experience.
For
further information contact:
Head:
Corporate Affairs
Caroline Creasy Tel:
+27 11 289 3081 caroline.creasy@multichoice.co.za
Ends
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