Wednesday, 27th January 2016; Southern Comfort is pleased to announce, 24 year old, Eureka Nkese, as the winner of their 2015 #OwnYourAwesome competition. Nkese is a passionate up-and-coming comedian hailing from Pretoria with a truly Southern Comfort attitude.

In 2015, for a second year running, Southern Comfort called out to fans, inspiring them to share how and why they ‘own their awesome’; how they are not afraid to be unique, stand out from the ‘norm’ and live life in their own awesome way. The campaign seeks to recognise individuals who exude an imperfect charisma and an unwavering self-belief in who they are and what makes them exceptional by being true to themselves. The #OwnYourAwesome attitude personifies Southern Comfort’s motto of #WhateversComfortable as the brand celebrates self-comfortable South Africans who live life walking to the sound of their own beat.

Southern Comfort launched the locally inspired #OwnYourAwesome search in September 2015 and after receiving hundreds of entries from truly inspirational candidates, the brand has selected one exceptional individual who perfectly embodies the Southern Comfort attitude. As the winner, Nkese walks away with the grand prize of R30 000 in cash and a full scale marketing campaign to the value of R300 000. This marketing campaign will provide Nkese with a platform to showcase his awesomeness and provide a positive stepping stone to booster his career. Eureka was selected due to his entrepreneurial spirit toppled with a positive life attitude and self-belief. “The major key to a better future is the real you,” believes Nkese, “I love my own company. What I always find in my moments of solitude is jokes, I bet you would chill a lot more with yourself if you only started telling yourself jokes.”

“What made Eureka stand out from the crowd was his refreshing positivity, his evident comfortableness within his own skin and his driven attitude to succeed,” says Chantal Canning, Brand Manager for Southern Comfort. Even though he loves to entertain the crowds with his wit, he also enjoys his own company and believes he can only serve his generation by being himself and choosing to be who he is at every given moment. “Eureka lives life playing by his own rules, not allowing anyone or anything to define who he is as a person and that is why he is a great example of how you can do your own thing in your own awesome way and be successful doing so.” says Canning.

“Southern Comfort hopes its fans will look up to inspirational South Africans such as our new winner, Eureka, and continue to strive to be their own awesome selves in 2016,” concludes Canning.

Nkese has been focused on breaking into the stand up comedy scene for the past 5 years. He attended The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown with his one-man show Temporary Insanity and was nominated in the Best Newcomer Category for the SA Comics’ Awards. At hearing the news that he was the winner of the Southern Comfort competition Nkese said it was the best Christmas Gift he ever received. “I feel incredible. This is certainly going to be the boost my career needs and I cannot wait to work with Southern Comfort on my very own marketing campaign” he said. His full scale marketing campaign will be produced and set up in collaboration with the Southern Comfort team and will include a national radio advert, social & digital media as well as a public relations awareness drive. Check out what makes Eureka awesome here and visit the website he taught himself to create here

Join the awesome conversation on twitter @SouthernComfort with the campaign hashtags #OwnYourAwesome.

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