* Stella Maris Girls Secondary School emerged winners of the grand finale with their play titled; ‘Tales in Hot Tide’, beating 11 other schools from six Education Divisions
* The 2026 competion was dominated by schools from the Southern Region with Blantyre Baptist coming second; Mulanje’s Our Lady of Namulenga Catholic school on third position
By Duncan Mlanjira
When the curtain fell at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe on Sunday, to mark the grand finale of the 2026 Association of Teaching English in Malawi (ATEM) School Drama Competition, it marked the revival of the traditional stage drama festival.
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This was evidence by this year’s tremendous improvement following the sponsorship of Standard Bank Malawi, through the ‘Joy of the Arts’ innovation that prompted the Bank to declare that it will continue sponsoring the annual drama festival.
Celebrated under the theme; ‘Women at the driving wheel: Driving towards MW2063 inclusive growth’, Stella Maris Girls Secondary School emerged winners of the grand finale with their play titled; ‘Tales in Hot Tide’, beating 11 other schools from six Education Divisions.
The 2026 competion was dominated by schools from the Southern Region with Blantyre Baptist coming second; Mulanje’s Our Lady of Namulenga Catholic school on third position; Lilongwe’s Kamuzu Barracks Secondary School on 4th and St Maria Goretti on 5th.
In individual awards, Briana Banda of Loyola Jesuit Secondary School in Kasungu won the Best English Speaking Learner Award, Jeromy Mwantisi of Our Lady of Namulenga was named Best Actor while Victory Mbewe of Blantyre Baptist Academy emerged as the Best Actress.
Stella Maris play impressed the judges, which is based on life at a farm, mirroring Malawi’s agrarian economy — in which the storyline tackled issues of abuse of power, exploitation and women leadership.
It centred on a young woman who inherited her late father’s estate and transformed the lives of workers through fair treatment and good leadership. However, the situation changed after an uncle forcefully took over the estate claiming that his late brother had left behind an unpaid loan.
Workers at the estate later faced exploitation and abuse under the uncle’s leadership before a young girl who had witnessed everything returned 15 years later after completing her studies to reclaim the estate and expose the uncle’s wrongdoing leading to his arrest.
The play’s narrative aligned well with the theme, thus Standard Bank Head of Compliance, Chikondi Kapyepye, attested to that through the Bank’s first two years of sponsorship, ATEM drama has registered tremendous improvements and revival.
“We have a long-term commitment to growing and harnessing Malawi’s creative economy, through ‘Joy of the Arts’, the platform under which ATEM sponsorship falls,” she said.
“ATEM drama evokes a rich scholarly heritage, which was dying due to lack of financial, technical and logistical support. Standard Bank, through our Joy of the Arts platform has come to bridge that gap.
“In the two years, we have seen the number of participating schools increasing from 120 to 138, reflecting renewed interest in the art form by secondary schools,” said Kapyepye.
Gracing the young minds’ special occasion was Clerk of Cabinet in the Office of President & Cabinet, Marjorie Chisambo Shema, who applauded Standard Bank for the investment towards the revival of ATEM English drama in schools.
“What we witnessed on stage in the last two days was impressive, and clearly shows that the sponsorship is having an impact on school’s drama and promotion of English as a communication medium,” she said.
The national schools drama was the most anticipated for in the past, which groomed the birth of professional stage English drama and standup comedy in the country, whose pioneer was Du Chisiza Jnr through his Wakhumbata Theatre.
Then came forth the Chichewa version of stage play through Charles Severe’s Kwathu Drama Group, which brought to prominence two of the country’s greatest stage actors and comedians, John Nyanga and Eric Mabedi — AKA ‘Izeki ndi Jakobo’.
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