After searching across South Africa for the next ELLE Style Reporter in association with BlackBerry, Cape Town’s Niquita Bento took the title last week. Congratulations girl! The event showcased some of the most amazing local creative talent with triumphs in fashion, design and photography on display. Guests observed the exhibition while they mingled, took snaps in a photobooth and awaited the announcement.
As ELLE's Jackie Burger said, “We want to develop a home-grown style perspective and motivate bloggers to report with confidence and conviction, to set the trend rather than follow it. Adjudication standards were high, and with good reason, as we are grooming next-generation fashion writers in a competitive and fast-changing industry”.
Niquita won a 12-month contract with ELLE, a Fujifilm XF-1 camera, a BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, a photography or desktop publishing course from Vega and the opportunity to be mentored by well-known photographer and head judge Ed Suter. She will also be given regular opportunities to contribute to ELLE, ELLE.co.za and BlackBerry’s online platforms and will receive a monthly stipend of R5 000. Niquita will also travel to and report from an international fashion week in 2014. Wowza! Does that sound like a blogger's dream and a half or what?
I can't wait to see the amazing work she's going to deliver and I'm so happy that ELLE is shaping the South African fashion industry with innovative projects like this! If you'd like to know more, check out http://elle.co.za/ and keep up to date by following them on Twitter @ellemagazinesa.
