Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
THE Association of Women in Mining in Africa (AWIMA) in partnership with Levin Sources has extended the deadline for the jewellery design competition entries to allow more women to participate.
The competition aimed at unearthing and rewarding emerging talent in Africa was funded US$50 000 by the World Bank’s Extractives Global Programmatic Support (EGPS).
AWIMA jewellery project manager Miss Zo Harimalala said the first-time competition aimed at empowering and celebrating African women, the deadline date had been postponed to allow more women to submit their designs.
“The deadline which was 30 January 2021 has been extended to 6 February 2021 to allow more women to participate and the winning design will be manufactured by African jewellers, using materials sourced from local miners,” said Miss Harimalala.
She added that the competition aims to celebrate the courage and resilience of African women in mining and demonstrably showcase and partner the efforts of women in mining with fellow African women designers and jewellers.
The prize will be US$3 500 for the first place by the judges’ selection and US$500 for the popular voice from AWIMA members.
Miss Harimalala also noted that the competition running under the theme, ‘A symbol of solidarity to unify and pay tribute to African women in the mining sector’ is a way for AWIMA to showcase the capability of making it local and to give a business opportunity to talented and professional African women. Also, all entries were are to be submitted online.
She also urged applicants to submit a brooch design with design elements that celebrate inspirational women, evoke pride and feature symbols of strength and resilience.
She added: “The brooch should be designed for consumers who care about supporting women – allowing them to express their commitment and support to women in mining.”
She also noted that the presentation should be a hand drawing or using software. There should be multi view projection front, right, left, top, bottom, and back and technical aspects such as colour of the alloy, size and colour of the stone should be detailed.
“Each removable piece – if existing – is to be presented in all its variations,” added Miss Harimalala.
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