Phenyo Mokgothu

North-West University (NWU) student and Setswana writer Lesego Motlhankana has taken the world by storm.

Not only has he been nominated for the 2022 Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) Multilingualism awards, but he has also been nominated for the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) Awards.

Established in 2002, one of the annual PanSALB Multilingualism Awards aims is to promote and recognise exceptional work in the promotion of all official languages.

Lesego, a final-year BEd student on the NWU’s Potchefstroom Campus, has been nominated in the Language and Literature category. This category recognises both the written and oral modes of linguistic and/or literary expression, and is aimed at individuals or writers who have contributed to the promotion and preservation of all the official South African languages.

Recently publishing an anthology of Setswana poetry titled Pitsana ya Poko in collaboration with renowned author Kabelo Kgatea, Lesego has also been nominated in the NIHSS’s 7th annual Humanities and Social Sciences Book, Creative Collections, and Digital Contributions Awards for his contribution in the field of writing.

The PanSALB Multilingualism Awards ceremony will take place on 25 March, and the NIHSS Awards on 31 March.

 NWU student Lesego Motlhankana.