“A group of concerned Afrikaans institutions brainstormed the Trust’s spending strategy because we believe that Afrikaans is entering a time of crisis that needs serious intervention. This brainstorming brought forth a revised strategy that is aimed at making a drastic change to the future of our language in the next five years. Within this framework, we will support projects with far-reaching effects for Afrikaans. We see Pendoring Advertising Awards as such a project.”

According to Eloff, Afrikaans is a very effective advertising language. “Many Afrikaans advertisements have been made that were even found to be entertaining by other language groups. If we have to use the Pendoring Advertising Awards (the only of its kind in the industry with prize money for the winners) as the proverbial carrot in front of the advertisers and ad agencies’ noses in order to persuade them to keep on making Afrikaans advertisements, so be it. We support the effort.”

“Maybe the time has come for Afrikaans people to take a stand. Their buying power is still substantial enough to insist on Afrikaans advertisements without being negative. Afrikaans people are sometimes their own worst enemy.”

“We can’t deny the fact that Afrikaans is in a low intensity crisis. It’s like the frog swimming in cold water. When the water is heated up slowly, the frog doesn’t realise it until it’s too late.”

“It is the higher functions that are under pressure because of the government’s attitude – especially on the levels of education (schools and universities), the sciences and in commerce. The government’s attitude is one of benign neglect. Just think of the decline in the number of Afrikaans schools and the pressure on Afrikaans at universities.”

“The North West University, Potchefstroom campus, is the only one where the Afrikaans component is still strong. All, the other universities show a decline in undergraduate Afrikaans students. Take the very popular Afrikaans art festivals – even they struggle to get sponsorships these days.”

“Sixty languages die worldwide every year. To think that Afrikaans will keep on existing as a high function language without pro-active support is naïve. Afrikaans speakers can do a lot to stop this downward spiral. Keep on speaking and writing Afrikaans, don’t send your children to English schools, insist on Afrikaans as language of instruction at university level and support products that are marketed in Afrikaans,” says Eloff.

Pendoring is the only competition in the South African ad industry that rewards creatives with money for outstanding work.

In 2015, the winner of the Prestige Prize gets an overseas study trip worth R100 000.

Each silver winner will receive a Silver Pendoring and R2500 cash. The top student will receive R10 000 and an internship at Etiket for 2016. The client of the Prestige Award winning entry will walk away with free media sponsored by the Pendoring partners* The client of the gold winner in the radio category will win free airtime on OFM worth R75 000*

*Terms and conditions apply.

Entries for the Pendoring Advertising Awards open on Monday, 4 May and closes on Friday, 31 July.

For more information on the Pendorings, visit www.pendoring.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook and on Twitter, using the hashtag #Pendoring.