The South African Heroes Awards (SAHAs) are bringing the sixth installment in bigger and better fashion. SAHAs 2024, set to take place on September 21, 2024, at a yet-to-be announced venue, were launched over the weekend at 27 Boxes in Melville, Johannesburg. The awards honour and celebrate unsung heroes who are building their communities.
Over the past five years, the SAHAs have enjoyed overwhelming success, with nominations coming from all provinces.
“We have had exceptional community leaders who won in the different categories that we have in the awards; some have gone on to collaborate with government and corporations on projects that further benefit their communities,” said awards founder and organiser Amanda Matshaka.
With 20 categories now, the South African Heroes Awards are showing steady growth. In the categories voted for by the public, two new categories have been added: Community Media of the Year—carrying community-empowering stories—and Community Journalist of the Year—covering community-empowering stories.
Other categories for nominations are:
Youth Empowerment: uplifting young people through various programmes, Business Empowerment: offering assistance to start-ups and small businesses to help them succeed, Specialised Care: people who take care of vulnerable groups like orphans, disabled persons, abused people, widows, the homeless, etc. Community service is voluntary community work to benefit fellow community members, e.g., feeding programmes, community policing forums, etc. Community Health: health centres initiated and run by community members as well as primary health care, Rural Development: projects that uplift rural communities, Women Empowerment: programmes meant for the upliftment and empowerment of women and Community Builder of the Year Award: the overall winner voted for by finalists.
Honorary Awards this year are: The Green Award honours people who run projects or programmes for environmental preservation.
The Ubuntu Award honours veteran community builders whose projects have produced other noticeable community builders and high achievers.
The Art of Giving honours those who are uplifting communities through art.
The Language Preservation Award honours those who take pride in preserving indigenous languages.
Leader of Influence: honours exceptional leaders who lead by example and have a trail of positive influence.
Rights Activist of the Year: gives honour to those who fight tirelessly for human rights.
Aid Giver of the Year honours exceptional first responders in times of disaster and distress.
Iconic Impact honours an icon who has lived and continues to live their lives, giving of themselves to others to ensure they succeed in life.
Excellence in Public Service honours those in public service who deliver with excellence and go beyond the call of duty.
International Achiever represents South Africa with pride abroad, changing and impacting lives.
To nominate yourself or your community hero, send a motivation for what makes your chosen nominee a hero to info@sapositivenews.com. Nominations close on April 30, 2024.
The awards are an initiative of Kingdom Helpers of Africa in association with SA Positive News, sponsored by Mohlalefi Engineering, and in partnership with Mosetsa Media.
