Capetonians have an opportunity to vote for Cape Town’s host city poster to market the city for the 2010 FIFA World Cup – and could be in line to win two tickets to a South Africa Group match in 2010.

The four shortlisted posters of the City of Cape Town’s host city poster design competition were unveiled on 12 May 2008, to mark the fourth anniversary of the World Cup being awarded to South Africa, and members of the public can vote by SMS for one of the posters between 19 and 30 May 2008.

The competition was launched on 15 April, and 89 entries were received. The four shortlisted posters are the work of two designers, Janece Frick (24) of Parow, and Pierre Smith (29), of Cape Town, who have each received R10 000, while the overall winner will get an additional R10,000, once the winning poster is announced by FIFA in September 2008.

Click here to view the four shortlisted posters.
Click here to view the ad for voting.

The main purpose of the host city poster is to market the city, giving Cape Town an opportunity to promote and position itself ahead of and during the World Cup. The poster must capture the essence of the city and the tournament, and be able to be reproduced in various sizes. Each of the nine host cities were been given the opportunity to produce full colour posters for this purpose.

Executive Deputy Mayor Grant Haskin said the poster competition, the enthusiasm it has generated, and the final winning poster, are all integral in drawing all Capetonians into the spirit and success of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“Each member of the public has an important role to play in ensuring that Cape Town is ready to host the best 2010 FIFA World Cup it can, thus securing a sustainable legacy for us all,” he added.

“This is another visual marketing tool for the city to raise awareness and promote by-in by the residents of Cape Town,” said City of Cape Town 2010 spokesperson Pieter Cronje.

The City’s 2010 co-ordinator Teral Cullen said the adjudication panel was happy with the response to the competition and the quality of the shortlisted posters. “As we are the ‘Leading Destination in Africa’, we should have the leading World Cup poster,” she said.

The winning designers are not the only ones to benefit from the competition. In the spirit of FIFA’s “Fair Play” theme, the poster adjudication panel also awarded to “Fair Play” prizes of R2500 each to Cedar High School and Northpine Primary School, for submissions by pupils.

How to vote:

• The posters have been numbered 1, 2, 3, 4.
• Enter your initial and surname followed by the number of the poster of your choice in the text portion of the SMS message.
• Send the SMS to 083 1 2010 (SMS will cost R5).
• MTN will tally up votes for each poster to ascertain the winning poster.
• MTN will also run a random selector programme to pick the winning person who voted for the winning poster
• The City of Cape Town and MTN will present two SA Group Tickets at the same event as the announcement of the winning designer/poster.