The Pendoring Awards

Not-for-ProfitAwards & EventsSustainable Development

Aug 1

Halala SA's indigenous languages!

The Pendoring Advertising Awards is a truly unique initiative that celebrates the eleven indigenous national languages of our country, encouraging creative agencies to speak to consumers in their home language.

Quite simply, at Pendoring, we speak South African!

The brief

Originally created in 1995 to promote and stimulate the use of Afrikaans in advertising, the Pendoring Awards encourage the evolution, development, and integration of our indigenous languages in everyday communication.

The Pendoring Awards have been on a great journey of transformation. In 2016, it grew into an all-encompassing awards programme that celebrates all of South Africa’s indigenous languages, on equal footing, eliminating any prizes that rewarded Afrikaans separately from the remaining nine languages.

When we took over the management of the Pendoring Awards we had a clear mandate: to reposition the Pendorings and allow its transformation agenda to speak for itself!

As a brand-centric management agent, BBA takes care of the annual award programme as well as integrated communications across all contact points with the support of a diverse team of collaborators. This included the entry and judging process, the design of the actual event, the securing of sponsorships and other supporting elements.

We aim to contribute to the transformation of the creative industry by encouraging brands to communicate with South African audiences in their home languages. We believe that by creating an enabling environment for our indigenous languages to thrive, we will begin to entrench multilingualism and celebrate our rich cultural diversity.

The transformation

The UNESCO endorsement

In 2019, the Pendoring Awards became the first South African Awards show to receive an endorsement from UNESCO and the South African National Commission as part of The Year of Indigenous Languages campaign. This endorsement has since been renewed on an annual basis.

The afterparty on the lawn

We host the mother of all afterparties stocked with lekker local culinary delights and tipple. To keep you entertained, we offer a dynamic fusion of lively local entertainment so you can qobetsa to your favourite tunes or vosho until your knees give way!

#SpeakSouthAfrican

The Pendoring Award stage has featured multilingual hosts such as Sho Majozi, Hulisani Ravele, Lady Skollie, Jefferson “JBobs” Tshabala and Pule Welsch. Like a scene straight out of your favourite South African soapie, the hosts speak in their various home languages with a ticker-tape above the stage providing funny, quirky translations for the audience to follow.