Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov the Turkmenistan despot who ruled the country with an iron fist once wrote a book which was declared a must buy but even more incredulously, he had a Russian Soyuz rocket blast the book in a capsule to outer space so that it might remain for later generations to read.

Eva Chemgorem, a Kenya student from ISK (International School of Kenya) needed no such machinations to put her mark in outer space. Her winning poster “Africa united through satellites” won the DSTV Eutelsat 2012 best prize and will reportedly be copied on the side of a Eutelsat satellite that will be rocketed into space in her presence in France.

The competition also featured an essay writing competition won by a Ugandan student Anthony Oyom.

Oyom is the second Ugandan winner in that category in as many years.

The winners will travel to France to learn more about satellite technology.

Eutelsat is a key partner for Multichoice who run the satellite TV service DsTV.