Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Dr. DeLisle Worrell (centre), alongside winner of the 19th Annual Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Awards, Kerry Andre Belgrave; and second place and the Prime Minister’s awardee, Linda Deane.
Kerry Andre Belgrave’s collection of poems “@bb.now/tekculture?” received top honours at the 19th Annual Frank Collymore Literary Endowment (FCLE) Awards, held on Saturday night.
His impressive work looks at the new tech language and the generational and communications break from the old language, and how users of the new language are working in tech to solve old problems; suggesting in the end that the change is more apparent than real, that poverty expressed through tech language is the same poverty our grandparents know.
Second place and the Prime Minister’s award went to Linda Deane for her collection of poems “Bridgetown”; while Carlyon Blackman’s “Sons and Lovers”, also with her collection of poems, came third.
Honourable mention was given to the submissions of Christine Barrow, Justin Holder and Peter Laurie.
These awards are dedicated to the memory of the late Barbadian literary hero, Frank Collymore and further, are utilised as a vehicle for recognising, rewarding and promoting indigenous authorship and creative expression, as displayed in poetry, prose and sometimes drama.
Chairman of the FCLE Committee, Antonio “Boo” Rudder, described 2016 as an interesting year for the competition, indicating that some writers dared to challenge the traditional concepts of articulation and storytelling.
Revealing that there were 71 entries compared to 77 in 2015, he observed that each year, there are a number of entries that stand tall because of the mastery of craft and skill displayed by the authors in articulating their messages.
However, Rudder shared with the gathering at the Grande Salle, Tom Adams Financial Centre that lack of attention to detail and the coherent development of story lines and meticulous editing, are still a major cause for concern and detracted from the positive impact of too many entries.
The Chairman therefore took the opportunity to encourage writers to embrace the FCLE-sponsored workshops, which are directed towards the improvement of their skills. (TL)
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