Digital Skills Sovereignty Award

Sovereign capability is impossible without sovereign skills. Somebody has to teach them.

What this award recognises

Recognises institutions building South African talent in emerging technologies.

Who may enter

South African schools, TVET and CET colleges, universities and accredited training providers.

What this award looks for

A programme that ran, produced people who finished it, and sent them somewhere. Programmes that carry the cost for learners who could not otherwise pay score higher than those that pass it on.

How entries are judged in this category

• C1, the work. The programme: what is taught, how, and how well.
• C2, the difference it made. What happened to the learners: completed, certified, employed, or went further.
• Building and keeping South African skills. Whether it builds the skills South Africa needs and keeps them here, and how far it reaches learners who could not otherwise afford to take part. Higher scores go to programmes that carry the cost through funding, subsidy or free access rather than passing it to the learner, and that deliberately reach the learners with least access.

The three questions

• What did they do?
• What changed as a result?
• How does this build the skills South Africa needs and keep them here? Tell us what it costs a learner to take part, and how learners who could not afford it are funded or supported.

If you have any of these, they will strengthen your entry

• A curriculum outline. Photographs of the programme running.
• Enrolment and completion numbers. Where graduates went. A letter from an employer who hired them.
• What a learner pays and what is covered. Bursary, subsidy or sponsorship records. How learners are selected. Partnerships and funding that keep the programme running.

One item proving the work is real is required. Email it to nominations@cut2black.co.za, with the award category and the name of the person or organisation you nominated in the subject line, at any time before 17:00 on 28 August 2026. Anything further on this list is welcome but not required.