Good News

BULLETIN 28 March 

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please has won the 2025 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. The book is a timeless comic tale about a café owner and her trusty waiter’s attempts to serve a particularly picky customer. The book also won the illustrated books category. Please’s debut novel, The Expanded Earth, is set to be published next week. Carlos Sánchez’s The Tale of a Thousand Faces won the younger readers category, with Nathanael Lessore prevailing in the older readers category for King of Nothing.

# First-time nominee Ella Langley leads this year’s 60th Academy of Country Awards nominees with eight nods. She is up for Female Artist of the Year and New Female Artist of the Year and received six nominations for her song with Riley Green, You Look Like You Love Me. Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, and Cody Johnson have earned seven nominations, and Chris Stapleton six. The awards will be hosted by 16-time winner Reba McEntire on May 8th in Texas.

# Grammy award winner, Doja Cat, is the first headliner to be revealed for the Hey Neighbour music and lifestyle festival, set to take place in Pretoria in August. The festival will serve as a sort of homecoming for Doja Cat, whose real name is Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini. She is the daughter of South African actor Dumisani Dlamini. Festival organisers say Doja Cat’s energy, creativity, and ability to connect with audiences make her the perfect artist to kick off what will be an epic festival lineup. 

# The Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town has put together an exciting programme for the school holidays, including amazing exhibitions and puppet shows. Kids can visit the popular Western Clownfish Exhibit or spend time at the Diversity Gallery searching for the often tricky-to-find common octopus. There is also the Penguin Experience, a chance for up to two people to join one of the aquarium’s penguin keepers for an informative, fun, and exhilarating face-to-face experience with the penguins. The school holiday programme will run until the seventh of April.

# And finally: Agricultural organisation TLU SA invites all young farmers to enter the 2025 Young Farmer of the Year competition, where the country’s most dedicated and forward-thinking farmers will compete for incredible prizes. Last year’s winner was pig farmer Wian Süllwald from Bela-Bela in Limpopo. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl says participants will be evaluated on financial and risk management, infrastructure, mechanisation and technology, production practices, and their involvement in the community:

Stay tuned for more news………….