Submissions for Africa Challenge

February is Black History Month in the United States, a time when we pay special attention to Africa, a continent, a country and a culture that has powerfully shaped the American experience.

Often, the news we see about Africa focuses on HIV/AIDS, Ebola, or terrorism. But there’s much more to Africa than illness and violence.

 

For example, did you know that:

• Seven of the world’s top 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa
• The most common language in Africa is Arabic, followed by English and Swahili
• There are more mobile phone users in Africa than in the U.S. or European Union
• By the end of this century, four in 10 humans will be African

As UNICEF’s Generation 2030 report says, “the future of humanity is increasingly African.”

What if we went beyond the headlines? What do you know or what do you want to know about the world’s fastest-growing continent? Is it indeed health, poverty and politics? Or food, sports, and the latest trends in music from Mali? Are you intrigued by animal rights? Global warming? Student life? Technology?

Please help us look for the stories you’re looking for by joining Global Student Square’s first World News Challenge. Send us a photo, tweet or audio clip that addresses the question, “What I’d really like to know about Africa is …”

You can use “I like/I wish/What if,” as in: “I have a West African name and I like it … but I wish I knew more about where it came from and how it connects to who I am.” Or: “What if slavery had never happened? How might Africa be different? How might another country be different?”

Don’t be afraid of what might be provocative or controversial. Is there a difference between African Americans, and Africans who live in America, as the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (“Americanah”) has said? Which threat is worse — malaria, or Boko Haram?

What happens next

1. Global Student Square editors will use your entries to build an interactive graphic that reflects the range of your questions — a map of what we know/what we’d like to know.
2. A panel of judges will pick the top photo, audio, tweet and video. Judges include Dickens Olewe, an editor for The Star newspaper in Nairobi, Kenya, and Akoto Ofori-Atta, a former editor for The Root and Essence magazine, plus GSS Editors-in-Chief Simon Greenhill and Casey Miller.
3. The winner in each category (photo, audio, tweet, video) will receive a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate.
4. Winners also will be featured on Global Student Square’s website, @GSSVoices and on other social media.

Note: By submitting your content to GSS, you agree that you allow Global Student Square to use your content for our interactive graphic and on our website, and that you will not receive compensation unless your submission is selected as a winner by our panel of judges.

Deadline: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015

How to submit your question

1. Take a photo using your smartphone (horizontal or vertical) and send it to us:
• Email it to challenge@globalstudentsquare.org
• Tweet @GSSVoices using the hashtag #GSSAfrica
• Upload it to Global Student Square on Instagram using the hashtag #GSSAfrica (example at right)

Include your name and @Twitter handle, the name of the person who took the photo, and the location (city and state or country, for example, “Paris, Texas” or “Paris, France”). Make sure you tell us how your photo shows, “what I really want to know about Africa is …”.

OR

2. Record a sound file using your smartphone:

• Go to the place where your sound is. Start recording. If you have an iPhone, open the “Voice Memos” app (usually in “Extras”) and press the red “record” button.
• Start by saying your name, location, date, and what we’re about to hear, for example: “This is Aziza Jones, standing in the auditorium at My High School, on Jan. 1, 2015, and I want to know more about my first name, which is Somali for ‘gorgeous.’ ”
• Record for at least 60 seconds. If you make a mistake, don’t worry – just keep recording.
• Upload the file to Soundcloud and tag it #GSSAfrica.
• If you are on an iPhone,email your recording to us at challenge@globalstudentsquare.org.
• Click here for an example on Soundcloud.

 

OR

3. Tweet your question @GSSVoices and use the hashtag #GSSAfrica.

 

 

 

 

 

OR

4. Shoot a video of no more than two minutes and upload it to YouTube. Send the link to us at challenge@globalstudentsquare.org. Be sure to note your name and Twitter handle, your location, and how your video shows, “What I’d really like to know about Africa is …”

Whichever option you choose, remember to post to our Facebook group and join the conversation!

Whether your question seems short and obvious, or long and difficult, it’s important to us. Don’t be self-conscious about asking the questions you have on your mind or in your heart. As long as you can take a photo, record sound or tweet, we’ll consider it with care.

Contest rules

By participating, you also observe/agree to these rules:

1. Absolutely no obscenity or profanity; do not use your submission to libel or make personal insults. These are immediate disqualifiers.
2. No personal information unless it is about you (and see #1 above on obscenity/profanity). Respect others’ privacy as well as your own.
3. Submit only your own original work. This applies to photos, audio, tweets and video. Do not submit work that you have not personally created.
4. Submit your entry in the proper format using the rules above. Make sure that you include your name, Twitter handle and/or email address so that we can contact you.
5. By participating in this contest and submitting your photo, audio, tweet, video or email (“works”) to Global Student Square, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty free, worldwide, perpetual license to reproduce, distribute, and display the works; to incorporate the works into collective works; and to prepare derivative works as part of the nonprofit activities of Global Student Square, its contractors, heirs, and assigns.
6. Global Student Square reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity or format. We will also identify submissions by name and location.
7. In the event any condition of this contract is void or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to bind the parties.