The winners of the 2025 AVBOB Poetry Competition:
Back row from left to right: Domina Napolean Munzhelele (Tshivenda); Mashoto Serepo (Sepedi); Sello Mofokeng (Sesotho); Unathi Mphikiswa (isiXhosa); Thembinkosi Qwabe (isiZulu); AVBOB Group CEO, Eugene Strauss; Beketele Mahlalela (Siswati); Magda van der Merwe (Afrikaans); Themba Patrick Magaisa (Xitsonga); and Mongweotsile Madube Methikga Tingwe (Setswana).
Front row from left to right: Erica Bartholomae (English); Sekhobo Moshe (JdL Award for Poetry: Sesotho); and Nhlanhla Mahlangu (isiNdebele). Absent: Joan Hambidge (JdL Award for Poetry: Afrikaans).
CELEBRATING NINE YEARS OF SOUTH AFRICAN POETRY: THE 2025 AVBOB POETRY COMPETITION
The 11 winners of the 2025 AVBOB Poetry Competition, one from each of South Africa’s official written languages, were honoured at the AVBOB Poetry Gala on Thursday, 1 October 2026, at Pretoria Country Club. The event celebrated South Africa’s rich cultural diversity and reaffirmed AVBOB’s commitment to preserving and promoting the country’s linguistic heritage through poetry.
The keynote address was delivered by AVBOB’s newly appointed Group CEO, Eugene Strauss. He shared “the AVBOB Poetry Project creates a space where people can contribute something of themselves to a much larger conversation. It creates opportunities for experiences to be shared, for languages to be preserved and celebrated and for people from different backgrounds to encounter perspectives that may be very different from their own.”
Guests were entertained by Maremo Violin (Maremo Seabela) and Jude Harpstar, a popular violin-and-harp duo. Their performance set the tone for the evening and the host Heidi Giokos, an award-winning journalist and news anchor.
Reflecting on South Africa’s recent Heritage Day celebrations, Giokos paid tribute to the country’s vibrant and diverse poetry landscape and encouraged poets to “Dig deep and join the conversation.” She said: “Poetry provides us with the tools to explore and reorient ourselves in the world, to reimagine where we have come from and where we might be going. Poetry offers us a chance to express our deepest feelings, to bypass logic and dogma, and to become more open to experience and new understanding.”
Each language-category winner received a R10 000 cash prize, a R2 500 book voucher and an elegant trophy.
Introduced at last year’s gala in honour of AVBOB’s late Editor-in-Chief, Johann de Lange, the JdL Award for Poetry this year recognised two collections: Asindeton by Joan Hambidge (Afrikaans) and Monokotshwai by Sekhobo Moshe (Sesotho).
Paying tribute to de Lange, Giokos said: “Johann was a visionary whose dedication remains an inspiration to us today.” She added that it was fitting for the award to be presented to Joan Hambidge, arguably de Lange’s closest friend. A multi-award-winning writer, Hambidge has made an immense contribution to Afrikaans literature, publishing more than 30 poetry collections over the past 40 years.
Sesotho JdL Award winner Sekhobo Moshe is a poet, novelist and dramatist who has served as praise poet to the Premier of the Free State and the national football coach. The judges described Monokotshwai as a collection of exceptional creativity, originality and literary artistry.
Each gala guest received a copy of the annual anthology, I Wish I’d Said… Vol. 9, launched at the event. It features the top six poems in each language, each accompanied by an English translation, as well as a selection of commissioned poems. The anthology was compiled by Guest Editor Joan Hambidge and Assistant Editors Douglas Reid Skinner and Katjie Sponono Mahlangu.
To order I Wish I’d Said… Vol. 9, SMS ‘POEM’ to 48423 (standard SMS cost: R1,50) and have the anthology posted to you for a total of R240. Alternatively, email your order to tertia@naledi.co.za or purchase it from selected bookstores.
Visit www.avbobpoetry.co.za to explore the AVBOB Poetry Library and register for the 10th AVBOB Poetry Competition, open for entries until 30 November 2026.
The winners and runners-up in the 2025 AVBOB Poetry Competition, listed alphabetically by language category, are:
| Afrikaans winner | Name: Magda van der Merwe
Poem: aletta magdalena |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Heidi Papadopoulos | Imarie Oberholzer | Allan Maasdorp | Anne-Marie Bartie | Annami Simon |
| Poem | Å Gasvrye graf | Al die vrae wat jy nie kon antwoord nie | Terminaal | reisgenoot | Tydsbegrip |
| English winner | Name: Erica Bartholomae
Poem: Trust |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Stephanie Barnardt | Joan Hambidge | Jessica Chriseldah Sibiya | Archie Swanson | Bongani Ndimande |
| Poem | Anchor and Axiom | Ode to My Hairdresser | She Who Remained (For Neria) |
the Irishman | The Letter She Left |
| isiNdebele winner | Name: Nhlanhla Mahlangu
Poem: Imbewu ehle |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Nkosinathi Mduduzi Gembe | Elizabeth Masuku | Stephan Sibanyoni | Queen Nomfundo Thugwana | WeJohannes Mduduzi Mahlangu |
| Poem | Mbala! Uyithumbile | Salani Nekesi | USomnini uzokuthwalela ijoga | Igama lami litonyuliwe | Umphefumul’ Omncani |
| isiXhosa winner | Name: Unathi Mphikiswa
Poem: Iinkumbulo |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Anelisa Thengimfene | Tsepiso Nzayo | Goodness Zoko | Felicity Titise | Phathiswa Boy |
| Poem | Umona | Ulwimi Lwam. Igolide Yam | Isingxobo sosana | Lutsha | Deda thikoloshe |
| isiZulu winner | Name: Thembinkosi Qwabe
Poem: Hawu kodwa mtanomuntu |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Sizwe Alexis Zungu | Sipho Banda | Nokwazi Jili | Thandeka Nxumalo | Ncamisile Nobuhle Hlabisa |
| Poem | Sengizidelil’ izicofiya zomhlaba! | Isihlahla semizwa yayizolo | Selifiphele nenkanyezi yokuthula | Walibangisa ekhaya | NgoJohann de Lange |
| Sepedi winner | Name: Mashoto Serepo
Poem: Mobu o utswitšwe |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Diketso Mogoswane | Kgabo Sebatjane | Thapelo Matemana | Lethabo Zanele Nhlapo | Dingoepe Sannyboy Sepale |
| Poem | Mmagwe o llela letšobana la gagwe | Difeleng tša Sione | Mphihlišetše molaetša | Bophelo bja gago bo boile gabedi | O ikhuditše |
| Sesotho winner | Name: Sello Mofokeng
Poem: Athe wena o jwang? |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Tlhokomelo Khusu | Moeketsi Golden Mokotjo | Lehlohonolo Bernard Mosoeu | Sello Mofokeng | Persevarance Pulane Thobatsi |
| Poem | Kgosatsana | Mofuthu wa lerato le letjha | Lefifi leo le ntse le tlo fela! | Na o twadi? | Ke tla fetoha |
| Setswana winner | Name: Mongweotsile Madube Methikga Tingwe
Poem: Tsala |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Rethabile Mofokeng | Lebogang Mogapi | Molebatsi Bosilong | Gomolemo Medupi | Prudance Gomotsegang Mthombeni |
| Poem | Boimana jwa bana | Bagologolwane | Bokhutlo | Tsholofelo | Lerato |
| Siswati winner | Name: Beketele Mahlalela
Poem: Atibuyang’emasisweni |
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| Runners-up | Second place | Third place | Fourth place | Fifth place | Sixth place |
| Poet | Constance Marry Mkomi | Lusito Sandile Maziya | Kevin Magagula | Lusito Sandile Maziya | Walker Mkhabela |
| Poem | Bengesaba kutsi bantfu batawutsini | Ngibonga Facebook | Nomalungelo |
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