Tom Queba and Pegasys Scholarships for Social Change 2027: Historical Reference for the Closed Honours and Master's Award

Tom Queba and Pegasys Scholarships for Social Change 2027: Historical Reference for the Closed Honours and Master’s Award

Historical reference: the 2027 study round is closed

Canon Collins Trust, in partnership with the Tom Queba Memorial Fund and Pegasys, offered scholarships for Honours and Master’s study at South African universities for the 2027 academic year. The official scholarship page records an extended Stage 1 submission deadline of 24 August 2026 at 16:00 SAST. The Stage 1 submission window has closed, and late applications are not accepted. The published schedule places interviews for shortlisted applicants in October/November and outcome notices for all applicants in mid-December. The official page reviewed for this entry does not announce a subsequent application cycle or a new deadline.

This is an archive entry, not an open call. Although the official page still contains generic “We are now open for applications” wording and application form links, it gives a completed Stage 1 deadline and explicitly says late applications are not accepted. Those generic notices do not establish that the 2027 round has reopened. The page reviewed does not announce a subsequent cycle. The deadline field retains the real closing date for the completed round, and historicalReference = true identifies its status. Do not use the historical application information below to try to submit an application now. If Canon Collins opens another cycle, its official scholarship page and new guidelines are where applicants should check for the replacement date and any changed conditions.

Key details from the closed round

The Trust described R85,000 as the value of the package in 2026. The page does not give an itemised budget or establish that the figure was an annual payment. Read it as the stated package value, rather than assuming it covers a particular tuition, living-cost, or travel allocation. The listed maximum funding period was two years. A candidate would therefore have needed to assess the funding against the length and cost of the particular qualification rather than assume that every expense was covered. Canon Collins said it supports both full-time and part-time study and would consider distance-learning applications. These were accepted study modes for the 2027 round; the other eligibility criteria still applied to candidates using any of them.

Alongside funding, the programme offered opportunities to develop academic and leadership skills through organised events. Canon Collins said it holds an annual conference for current scholars and smaller events through the year. Scholarship holders were expected to participate and contribute to the scholar network. These were programme commitments to consider when planning study and other work.

Who the 2027 round was for

The published criteria described a focused South African postgraduate award. An applicant had to be a black or coloured South African national, using the definitions provided in South African BEE law, and reside in South Africa. The applicant also had to be under 34 at the commencement of the course. That age test was tied to the course start, not simply to the day the Stage 1 form was submitted.

Applicants needed to hold a good first degree, with a minimum standard of second class, upper division or equivalent, or be about to graduate in the year of application. The qualification had to be at Honours or Master’s level at a South African university. The wording included people already studying and those applying to study, so admission status did not have to be represented as complete at the initial eligibility check. The scholarship page asked applicants to apply only if they met every stated criterion.

The decisive academic fit was the intended contribution of the proposed study. Canon Collins said the work had to contribute directly to social and/or environmental development, particularly to improving the lives and livelihoods of the poorest people in South Africa. Its named areas were Justice, Education, Humanities and the Arts, and Sciences and Applied Sciences. The page did not limit the award to one narrow discipline within those areas. Applicants needed to explain the connection between their own study and the stated development purpose.

The published criteria should be read as a set, not as alternatives. A strong academic record alone did not replace the nationality, residence, age, level, university, and purpose requirements. Similarly, a project connected to social or environmental questions would not by itself make an applicant eligible if another listed condition was not met. For any future round, use that round’s guidelines: eligibility wording and documentation can change.

How the completed application process worked

The 2027 round used a two-stage process. Stage 1 consisted of a short online application submitted through the application form linked from the Canon Collins scholarship page. The official page said that full instructions appeared when an applicant started a new form. It also said the form could be saved and edited until submission, but every section had to be complete before the system would accept it.

The Stage 1 document list comprised copies of degree certificates, if available; all academic transcripts; and an identity document. The page accepted a passport, birth certificate, or driver’s licence for identity evidence. Applicants needed to meet all eligibility criteria, submit a complete form, and upload all required supporting documents to be considered for Stage 2. The wording “all academic transcripts” means a future applicant should follow the guidelines carefully about the academic record to upload, especially if they attended more than one institution.

The final Stage 1 deadline was extended to 24 August 2026 at 16:00 SAST. Canon Collins stated that late applications were not accepted. It warned that a surge of last-minute traffic could lead to technical problems, slow loading, or failed submissions, and advised applicants to submit well ahead of the cutoff. Those instructions explain how the closed round operated; they are not a route to late submission now.

Applicants successful at Stage 1 were to be invited by email in September 2026 to make a more detailed Stage 2 application. Those shortlisted after Stage 2 were to be interviewed in October/November 2026, with all applicants notified of the outcome by mid-December 2026. The Trust asked applicants not to email to ask for outcome updates and said notifications would be sent by email. These dates are historical milestones for the completed round.

Original work and the AI policy

The scholarship page imposed a strict rule on application materials: they had to be entirely the applicant’s original work. Canon Collins prohibited using generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Bard, or similar software, to generate, edit, or assist with any part of an application. It said that content created or modified with AI could result in immediate disqualification and rejection. The page separately allowed standard spelling and grammar checkers if they did not generate or rewrite content.

The page also described the rule as a requirement to represent the applicant’s own work and voice, and reserved the Trust’s right to reject an application if it believed AI had been used in preparation. Anyone considering a future Canon Collins award should read the policy on the live scholarship page and guidelines for that cycle before preparing materials. The policy and application conditions here describe the archived round and should not substitute for current instructions.

Reading the award’s social-change focus

For historical applicants, the programme’s core test was not simply whether a degree was academically worthwhile. The published requirement asked for a direct contribution to social or environmental development and specifically singled out the lives and livelihoods of the poorest people in South Africa. A useful application would therefore have needed to make a clear, credible connection among the proposed study, the issue it addressed, and the people who could benefit.

A broad claim that a subject was important would not explain that connection. A more concrete account could identify the question to be studied, why it mattered in a particular social or environmental setting, and how the knowledge or professional capacity developed through the qualification related to that challenge. This is an interpretation of the Trust’s stated focus, not an additional eligibility rule. The page did not require applicants to work in a particular sector or to have a named type of prior experience.

The breadth of the four subject areas gave applicants room to approach social change from different disciplines. Justice, education, humanities and arts, and sciences and applied sciences can each inform development in different ways. The relevant question was whether the applicant could explain the fit of their own programme with the scholarship’s purpose, rather than simply repeat the field names. A future applicant should not assume the same areas, emphasis, or selection criteria will carry over unchanged to another round.

Questions about this archive entry

Can I still apply to this 2027 round? No. Stage 1 closed on 24 August 2026 at 16:00 SAST, and the Trust says late applications are not accepted. The published schedule placed Stage 2 invitations in September, interviews in October/November, and outcome notices in mid-December 2026; those later steps concern applications submitted before the deadline. The official page reviewed here does not announce another cycle.

What was the listed scholarship value? The official page stated that the package value in 2026 was R85,000 and that funding could run for up to a maximum of two years. It did not provide a detailed breakdown on the page.

Who was eligible? The published criteria required a black or coloured South African national residing in South Africa, under 34 when the course commenced, with a good first degree or about to graduate in the application year, and studying or applying for Honours or Master’s study at a South African university. Proposed study also had to meet the social or environmental development purpose.

Which fields were included? The page named Justice; Education; Humanities and the Arts; and Sciences and Applied Sciences.

What documents were requested at Stage 1? Degree certificates if available, all academic transcripts, and an accepted identity document: passport, birth certificate, or driver’s licence. The guidelines and online form supplied the detailed instructions for the completed round.

Where should I look for a new round? Use the official Canon Collins scholarship page below and any new guidelines published there. No later deadline is listed on the page reviewed for this historical entry.

Official link

• Tom Queba and Pegasys Scholarships for Social Change — Canon Collins Trust

Canon Collins directs scholarship enquiries to [email protected]. The official page is the controlling source for future availability, dates, award terms, eligibility, supporting documents, and application instructions.