Do the people in your town make the tastiest pastries? Is it the one town in the country where you will always feel at home when you drive down the streets? How many treasures are hidden in your community? Is your butcher shop the best kept secret in the country? What are the gems in town that you are proud of? Name your favorite town now and stand a chance to brag about the town and the people there!
Who qualifies?
Any town in South Africa or Namibia can be nominated, provided it:
Less than 500,000 inhabitants have
Not been a regional winner in the last two years (2023: Bonnievale, Willowmore, Nieuwoudtville, Parys, Rooiberg, Hartbeespoort, Delmas, Walvis Bay, Margate 2024: Outjo, Heidelberg, Modimolle, Jansenville, Frankfort, Vosburg, De Rust, Dullstroom, Port Edward)
Previous Winning Towns may not participate again for 6 years after they were declared winners (Swakopmund – 2019, Kareedouw 2020, Greyton 2021, Kroonstad 2022, Delmas 2023. Heidelberg GP 2024).
How does it work?
Nominate your favourite town from any region by SMSing the town name to 33157 (SMS costs R1.50). Entries open on Sunday, 2 March at 19:00 and close on Friday, 14 March 2025 at 12:00 noon. You can nominate as many towns as you like (only one town name per SMS, and as many SMSes as you like in this nomination round).
Nine regions will be selected:
1. Gauteng and North West together.
2. Northern Cape
3. Eastern Cape
4. Western Cape
5. Free State
6. Limpopo
7. Mpumalanga
8. KwaZulu-Natal
9. Namibia
From each region, the three towns with the most nominations will advance to the semi-final round (on 13 April, 20 April and 27 April). Here, for a week each round, the public will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite town from the 3 semi-finalists from each region. The round only allows 30 text messages per number. The town with the most votes will represent the competition region as their finalist town in the final round.
Kwêla will film an insert in each of the nine villages that made it to the final round.
When all nine towns have been featured on Kwêla, the public will be able to vote for the winning town from 7:00 PM on July 13 to 12:00 PM on July 18.
The Winning Town will be announced on August 2, 2025 at Kwêla.
The town with the most votes is named Kwêla's Town of the Year. The town wins an incredible R1 million in marketing value from kykNET. Homebrew Films, the producers of Kwêla, will make a 45 second commercial about the town, which will be broadcast during kykNET's advertising time. There will also be a big kick-off in the winning town – music, food, fun and lots of that winning town spirit! Kwêla will be there again to film it, and it will be broadcast later in the year. Lottoland will also donate a R1 million cash prize for the town to plough back into their town, which will be audited by them. Each finalist town will be asked in advance to submit a business plan on what they intend to do with the potential prize money.