Children from Phalaborwa to Cape Town, and from Durban to Pretoria, told the day’s news in
hand-drawn pictures earlier this month, in the hope of winning one of several prizes offered by
the weekly newspaper for children, Tuesday is Newsday.
It’s routine for children whose parents or schools subscribe to illustrate every week’s issue, working
from a draft of the stories ahead of publication.
However, the first issue of the month went out without illustrations, and in their place were pictures
of R600 vouchers that could be won from various stores.
In line with Tuesday is Newsday’s policy of taking a gentle approach to stories, avoiding too much
horror, coverage of the Middle East on the day was a story about Jordan pleading with Iran not to
escalate the war that has seen rockets passing over Jordanian airspace. Homeschooler Matteo Strauss
(11) used his favourite mediums – water
colour, pencil and pen – to draw a picture of
the Iranian rocket launching site, with the
flags of Israel, Iran and Jordan flying in the
background. He won the prize in the World
News category.

Dorienke Kamphuis, another home schooler, drew a neat map of Australia in pencil, peppered with national icons including the Sydney Opera House, and people looking lost beside question marks. It told the story of Australian urban homelessness. The glossary explaining the
meaning of difficult words and terms in the text had a paragraph about urban density.

Twelve-year-old Dorienke gave the story
linked to her Asia-Australasia News category
prize her own conclusion: “Australia is a big
country but there are not many homes for
everyone. I would rather stay in South Africa.”

Tuesday is Newsday simply had to highlight South Africa’s super sporting extended family, which
includes multiple Olympic medallist Tatjana Smith and former Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, said
editor Duncan Guy.

He started the publication 19 years ago for his son, Owen, when he was seven, and simply never stopped.

An image of the sister- and brother-in-law duo
under the title “We are Family” was the
winning illustration for the Africa News
category. It also came out of Pretoria. The
artist, seventh grader Imange Kokela, is a
pupil at Waterkloof House Preparatory
School.

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Still with the Olympics but far from metropolitan France (explained in the glossary), Tahiti islanders,
fearing the environmental impact of an offshore judging gallery on their coral reef, locked horns with
the organisers of the surfing event.

André Malan (11), from the historic
Hermannsburg Primary School in KZN, used
his pencil and much imagination to illustrate
the threatened underwater ecosystem.
Andre’s teacher, Hayley Cowie, says she prints
each week’s issue of Tuesday is Newsday and
pins it up on a board.
“I also use it in lessons for reading and a lot
for comprehension – reading for
understanding.”

 

Damodara Naidoo (12) presented a close-to-
real-life image of a Korean air hostess serving
noodles in boiling water to first class
passengers only. Under a new ruling, to avoid
burn injuries, hot noodles are no longer
offered in economy class.

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Back to the Olympics, Olihle Mazibuko (12) depicted Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson dramatically
reaching the end of the 100m sprint at the same time, represented by their national flags.

“I chose my alcohol markers because it gives
brightness to the paper and also more depth
and pop,” she said. Both Damodara and Olihle attend Virginia Preparatory School, north of Durban, which
has subscribed to Tuesday is Newsday for
more than 10 years.
Olihle said she looks forward to Tuesday is
Newsday every week. “Some people think news in boring. I like the pictures. It gives me a sense of ‘I’m in there’
as well,” she said.

Each issue of Tuesday is Newsday ends with a Today in History section – the final category.
Sophia Sadiq’s illustration noted that August 6 would have been Lord Tennyson’s 215 th birthday.

 He was Britain’s poet laureate, the meaning of
which was explained in the newspaper, which
is intended to promote general knowledge,
encourage reading and spark an interest in
current affairs.

For further information, please visit
https://tuesdayisnewsday.wixsite.com/tuesda
yisnewsday , or email
tuesdayisnewsday@gmail.com or
tuesdayisnewsday@yahoo.com

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