As the world entered another year of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Pretoria Archives launched a second remembering project in March 2021. The 2020 project, #UPStaySafe Archives photographic competition, generated wonderful images which will be preserved in the UP archives holdings for future generations. Both students and staff commented on the positive contribution that the competition made to their lives, being able to share their experiences during unprecedented times.

This year in March, the UP Archives launched the “UP Archives Recollecting COVID-19 - 365 days under lockdown” competition. Students, faculty members, administrators, researchers and alumni were invited to share how this period of social distancing and self-quarantine had shaped and changed their lives. The UP community responded overwhelmingly with poems, essays, videos, songs and artworks telling of the heartache of losing loved ones and the challenges of teaching, researching and studying remotely.  But also of the triumphs of completing a degree, achieving a medical breakthrough and reconnecting with friends and family.

Given the outstanding quality of the entries the judges decided not to award a winner and two runners-ups.  Instead 5 prizes of R2000 have been awarded to the following deserving entries:

1. Tamuka Gwenhure
2. Fumani Hlungwani
3. Caitlin McGregor
4. Maryam Mohamad Al Mahdi
5. Natasha Rammoi

This collection of memories will be preserved in the UP Archives and is a valuable resource for future researchers from all disciplines to understand and learn how our University community responded and managed during this crisis. In addition, to showcase these remarkable contributions and to make it accessible to a wider audience, all the contributions will be published digitally by the Faculty of Humanities’ Emerging Scholars’ Initiative Press (ESI Press -- https://esipress.up.ac.za) in March 2022, when we mark two years since the beginning of lockdown.