Theodor Herzl High School came out of nowhere to claim the 2025 Herald Isuzu Schools Quiz title at the weekend.
The underdogs of the competition triumphed over Victoria Park High School in a close final round at The Venue at Walmer Park Shopping Centre, with defending champions Uitenhage High School finishing third and Pearson High School in fourth place.
It was the first time since the relaunch of the popular schools quiz in 2021 that Theodor Herzl advanced beyond the early rounds, but as the competition progressed it became clear there was something special about this team.
Their performance steadily improved and they caused an upset by beating Woolhope Secondary School in a 7-6, round-of-16 sudden-death finish on May 24.
They followed this up with an equally nerve-racking 7-6 sudden-death quarterfinal on the same day, sending Walmer High School home.
Theodor Herzl’s journey to the top continued with an extremely competitive 10-9 semifinal win over 2024 winners Uitenhage High School on Saturday.
Later in the day, Theodor Herzl beat 2023 runners-up Victoria Park High 12-10 to take the overall title.
Theodor Herzl principal Victor Kurz said the winners were a cohesive and dedicated group reflecting the diversity of the school, while their quiz mentor and business studies teacher Nicole Venter, also Theodor Herzl’s head of academics, congratulated the other teams which had worked hard to reach the end.
“The lesson is that if you believe in yourself and work together, you can make good things happen,” Kurz said.
Team members Charlotte Marran, Liyemah Funani and Morgan Johnson, all 17, and Haroon Aslam, 16, described their win as unbelievable.
“The semifinal round was against last year’s winners and so the pressure was on, but we pulled ahead,” Morgan, the only team member who took part in 2024, said.
“And the finals were next level — it was such a close finish, but team effort got us through.”
One of the few teams which had not assigned specific categories to individual team members earlier on, Haroon said they decided to change their game plan just one day before the finals, dividing the various categories between them. “And it worked,” he said.
Charlotte said the team’s strength was that “all four of us are general knowledge people; we enjoy learning new things”.
“Liyemah and I like history and politics, for instance, and we all enjoy watching sport.
“While reading the newspapers played a big part in our success, our own interests outside of school also helped.”
An elated Liyemah said with all four still in grade 11, they hoped to return in 2026 to defend the title — but only if their matric exam schedule allowed it.
Another second-place finish was a blow for Victoria Park who, on May 24, had sent 2022 and 2023 winners Paterson High out of the competition.
Though disappointed in the final outcome, VP’s quiz captain, Liam Case, who is also the school’s head boy, congratulated the winners on behalf of his team.
“Theodor Herzl performed really well, having stepped up from the previous week, and they deserved to win. But I’m proud of my team and the effort they put in,” Liam, 17, said.
His teammates, still in grade 10, are determined to give the title another shot in 2026.
Top team Uitenhage High overcame a gutsy Pearson 9-5 for third place. This was Pearson’s best quiz performance in recent years, and with all four members in grade 11, they, too, hope to return.
Questions covering local, national and international news, sport, politics, business and entertainment were compiled by quiz moderator Louise Liebenberg over six weeks, with quizmaster Gareth Burley testing the teams’ knowledge each week.
The Herald and co-title sponsor Isuzu Motors South Africa distributed copies of the paper to all participating schools to help them prepare, and teams of four from across the Bay and Kouga regions competed every weekend since May 17.
A total of 208 pupils from a record 52 schools took part, with more than 1,000 questions posed and prizes to the value of R290,000 awarded.
Ryan Megaw, Eastern Cape general manager of Arena Holdings which owns The Herald, applauded the top schools and gave special thanks to the sponsors.
“We believe developing young people is key to the future and that’s why we are so invested in this project,” he said.
“For us, it’s about getting them to engage with the news and encouraging them to become informed citizens.
“We were extremely impressed by how hard the pupils worked and how knowledgeable they were.”
Isuzu Motors SA’s external communications, stakeholder relations and PR co-ordinator, Asanda Fongqo, said it was an honour to partner with The Herald in the initiative as Isuzu was passionate about investing in young people.
“What we’ve witnessed over the last few weeks are hard work, teamwork and a lot of emotion,” he said. “Congratulations to all the pupils on making it this far.”
The top three schools shared a R35,000 cash prize from Isuzu, with Theodor Herzl taking home R20,000 of that.
From Axxess, the winning team members each received 80GB of LTE data for six months, with a MiFi device, to a total value of R14,000.
In addition, there were prizes from Astron Energy (silver sponsor), Walmer Park Shopping Centre, Bargain Books and Woolworths, and the competition also welcomed three new prize partners in Pick n Pay, Tiger Brands (Beacon) and Sammo My Tutor.
The Herald