Sugar, spice and everything nice. Get ready because the power trio is on another mission. This time, they’re coming to Africa. Cartoon Network in partnership with Save The Children will be hosting the Power Puff Girls’ Awards. The award is a first of its kind and aims at recognizing young African girls being superheroes in their own way.
The Power Puff Girls is an iconic superhero cartoon that most girls can relate to. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are the three superheroes in the cartoon who save their city of Townsville and the world from all kinds of evil. They were, and still are, one of my favourite cartoon characters.
Image from https://powerpuffyourself.com/#!/en
The Power Puff Girls Awards focusses on three categories characterized by the three power puff girls. The Blossom Award will be awarded to The Social Helper who makes remarkable social changes for the greater good. The Buttercup Award will be awarded to The Science and Technology category for great science and technology inventions. The Bubbles Award will go to The Artistic Creator who uses her imagination to create artistic pieces that are awe-inspiring.
It’s not common for African children to receive such a global platform to paint the continent in a different light. So, projects like these are a chance for Africa to showcase the rich and diverse talent available in the continent.
For the participants, such a platform is an opportunity to perfect their craft, learning about their talents and nurturing them at a young age, giving them an advantage in life. Not only do they have the luxury of time, they also have fresh young minds. As they say, young people learn faster.
The awards are also a chance for the winners to discover their full potential by exploiting the resources available to them. In addition to the award, the winners will receive $1,500 and a mentor for each category including Toya Delazay, a South African singer and songwriter, for the Artistic Creator category.
It’s hard to believe but there was once a time that girls could not go to school. Mentors like Toya Delazay show the young generation of women that the impossible is possible by working harder and dreaming bigger. When the girls see more African girls like themselves on an international level, it breaks that mental barrier. There are more role models now as opposed to 20 years ago.
This gesture from a world-renowned television network is symbolic of what the future holds in store for African girls. Not only has the network and the Power Puff Girls franchise given black girls representation on screen, but off-screen as well. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of something great for African girls. As the African saying goes, “When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.”
Entries are open from 15th August to 15th October 2018. Winners will be announced at the end of October and will receive their awards at a ceremony hosted in Johannesburg. For more details on the guidelines, check out the DSTV website from 15th August when the competition will go live.
Speaking of representation, Why It Is Important To Have Black Dolls That Look Like Us
