South Africa re-invents the vuvuzela

What will you do with yours?

A competition is drawing to a close in South Africa to find new ways to use the vuvuzela.

Some ideas submitted so far include turning the plastic horns into chandeliers, lamp shades, bird food dispensers and table stands.

The winning design, to be announced later this month, is to be produced and sold through a local retailer.

The vuvuzela reached the world's attention during the Word Cup which South Africa hosted in June and July.

Competition organiser Jono Swanepoel says designs will be handed over to local manufacturers, who will receive all the proceeds from the sale of the new-look vuvuzela.

"This is ultimately designed to create jobs for crafters out there," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Many of the designs were impractical but funny, Mr Swanepoel said.

"We've seen quite a few entries of hearing aids; things to magnify the sound on your cellphone if you put it on speaker phone," he said.

He also suggested that lamp shades could be useful in South Africa's poor communities.

"For example in lower cost houses where you have a naked light bulb hanging from a ceiling in a shack or a house."

The competition ends on 15 October and organisers say more than 200 entries have been submitted so far.

A prize of 10,000 rand (£916; $1,460) will be distributed among the 10 best suggestions.

Vuvuzelas have long been a feature of football in South Africa.

But many foreign fans criticised them during the World Cup, saying they sounded like a swarm of bees and drowned out traditional football chants.

Several English premiership clubs have banned them from their grounds.