Johannesburg - Midland Primary and High school emerged victors in the inaugural National High School Quiz, that took place in Sandton on Thursday.
The Midrand-based school beat seven other schools from four regions to claim the top prize and trophy, R20 000 for their school, R5 000 for each team member and R5 000 for the team's coach.
Each winning team member also received Ace IT study guides and Ace IT backpacks including a camera and smartwatch.
Durban-based Eden College was named the runner-up school.
Speaking following their win was Neo Nkosi, who shared his teammates' joy at winning and thanked their mentor for pushing them.
"I feel like we've worked hard to get here and throughout the competition, I kept saying we've won, even when everyone was doubting. I know we've put in enough to really get here and I'm really happy it paid off.
Midland Primary and High School receive their prizes after being named the winners of the inaugural National High School Quiz. Picture: Khnayisile Ngcobo
"It was really our teacher who pushed us - without him we wouldn't have made it past the first round."
Midland school teacher Ebenezer Danso Abebrese added to this, praising IIE Varsity College for supporting such initiatives and exposing pupils to current affairs.
The final was held at IIE Varsity College in Sandton, which co-hosted the competition with Independent Media.
Eden College took second place at the National High Schools Quiz. Picture: Khnayisile Ngcobo
The National High School Quiz brought together eight winning teams from various regional rounds hosted by newspapers in the Independent Media group.
All the questions in the regional rounds were taken from articles which appeared in newspapers in the Independent Media group stable - the Pretoria News, The Star, the Cape Argus and the Daily News - and, for the final, the questions are based on articles published on the IOL website.