The winners of the biggest online tournaments hosted by Tangible Africa in the past five years were announced recently.
A total of 1 700 participants from 209 schools competed against each other to see who would finish the Juicy Gems coding game in the fastest time. A total of 20 500 scores were submitted to Tangible Africa.
After much processing and computing, the winner was recently announced as Kayline Jantjies, a Grade 7 learner from Blackheath Primary School in Cape Town and the runner-up as Gabriella Jonson, a Grade 8 learner from Victoria Park High School in Gqeberha.
The Juicy Gems Girls Online Tournament, which took place from 15 to 29 April, was sponsored by long-time Tangible Africa partner, Dutoit, and children from across the country and other parts of the world, like Indonesia and Croatia, participated in the tournament.
The accessibility of Tangible Africa’s tangible coding games makes it a popular educational activity in both rural and urban schools, said Tangible Africa founder and Head of the Department and Associate Professor at the Nelson Mandela University Computing Sciences Department, Prof Jean Greyling.
“The first Tangible Africa online coding tournament was held in the midst of hard COVID lockdown, when changes were made to the BOATS coding app, to allow learners to play from home. The 1 700 participants this year from over 200 schools is by far the biggest online tournament in the 5 years since 2020. We are grateful to our sponsors Dutoit for seeing the value in getting learners excited about coding,” said Greyling.
Dutoit had teamed up with Tangible Africa to produce Juicy Gems, a one-of-a-kind educational game that introduces the youth to coding, digital technology and the importance of fruit and sustainability.
Juicy Gems Girls Online Tournament winner Jantjies won a Samsung Galaxy A16: “Initially, I thought I’d be outmatched by the older participants, but my love for challenges is what motivated me to participate. The idea of a tough competition was what drew me in,” said Jantjies.
Runner-up Jonson said she was incredibly proud and excited to have been placed second in the competition. “I’ve been part of the Tangible Africa programme since 2021, and it’s helped grow my love for coding. These challenges push me to think creatively and solve problems in new ways. It’s also inspiring to be part of something that celebrates girls and women in tech,” said Jonson.
Two learners from Cape Recife High School in Gqeberha also made the Top 10 of the Juicy Gems Girls Online Tournament, with one of them (Jasmin Coetzee) who had never coded before: “This game was very fun to play, easy to understand and winning prizes kept me interested, because what teenager doesn’t want to win a phone? I really enjoyed this game, and I am glad I got Top 10,” said Coetzee, who is a Grade 10-learner at Cape Recife.
Another Cape Recife Grade 10 learner, Mvelo Matthews, had been part of the school’s robotics team since 2023 and represented the Eastern Cape at the First Lego League national competition twice.
“It is a challenging game that encourages learners to become interested in problem-solving,”
said Matthews.
The top participating school (winning a cash prize of R5 000) was Sentinel Primary School in Phuthaditjhaba, Qwaqwa, Free State.
Tangible Africa is now building up to their flagship event #coding4Mandela in July. To find out more, contact info@levafoundation.org
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