A poetry competition to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade and the 40th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution showed that there is growing talent in this area of literary expression among young people and adults on the island.

Children and adult winners

The prize-giving ceremony was held at the Teachers’ Resource Centre on Saturday, October 13 with Ijahnya Christian as Chairperson.

The Malliouhana Poetry Competition, as it was called, was organised by the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Anguilla Public Library and Summit Chambers of Barrister-at-Law, Lisa Bass.

UWI Resident Tutor in Anguilla, Carla Harris-Pascal, said the competition was an excellent way to marry literacy and social awareness. “There was very good representation of the entire community with some persons entering more than one poem.” “The judges had a hard time but in the end they made very good choices,” she stated.

Judges, sponsors and others

The judges performed so well that they were included in the list of awards and tokens of appreciation. Those given the task of judging were Anguillian luminaries Bishop Errol Brooks, David Carty, Colville Petty and Sir Howard Fergus of Montserrat.

There were three main categories of prizes. In the 5-8 years category the prizes were as follows: first prize went to Kyvi Edwards whose poem was dedicated “To The Anguilla Revolution Fighters.” The winner of the second prize was Arielle Gaskin and his poem was entitled “We’re Free.” In third place was Chris Liddie-Cox and his poem was entitled “A Child Slave.”

This was followed by the 9-12 years category. In first place was Jasmine Ruan whose poem was entitled “A Slave’s Life.” Guyvaughn Ruan won the second prize for the poem “The Plantations”. The winner of the third prize was Rhaine Gumbs for his poem “Freedom.”

Then there was the 13-17 years category. First prize went to Casilda Thomas who wrote the poem “Your Yesterday vs Our Today.” The second place was taken by Julisa Thomas, the title of whose poem was “Your Past Led To Our Future.” In third place was Justine Duncan who wrote the poem “Man of Revolution.”

In the adult category, first prize was won by Sharon Lake for her poem “Still Not Free?” The winner of the second prize was Timothy Hodge who wrote the poem “Africa Me and the Boabab Tree”. Marvin Gumbs won the third prize for his poem “Back to Bobo Johnny.”

Special prizes were also awarded with Honourable Mention having been made to Ruel Ben Lewi for his poem “Sardines & Saltwater” and Patricia Adams whose poetry piece was entitled “Afribbean Chile.” Jacqueline Connor and Dwayne Adams were also awarded for their poems “No More, It Done!” and “When it Seems To Weep Rejoice” respectively.

The poem that best reflected the themes of the competition was adjudged as “Back to Bobo Johnny” written by Marvin Gumbs as stated earlier.

The general sponsors were Antillen Design & Development Ltd, Cable & Wireless, Caribbean Cable Communications, Digicel, Fairplay Management Services Ltd, J W Proctors, Lake’s World, Peter’s Agency, Scotia Bank, Six Pence Development, Summit Chambers, Sunset Homes and Xerox.

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