Flagperson of the year, Justin Poleon.
Kevin Small has delivered in a big way for the climax of the Crop Over season, by once again snatching the coveted Robert Weekes Award for Best Festival Designer for this year’s Grand Kadooment.
His overall win as Best Festival Designer was just one of nine awards he captured with his Fifth Element Mas band; with other awards including Best Historical, Best Traditional, Most Colourful and Best Presentation of the Year just to name a few.
Justin Poleon who was more than impressive with his presentation on the big day, easily walked away with Flagperson of the year, while Colorz Entertainment’s, Shawntelle Marshall and Zulu International’s, Nandi Yarde took second and third place respectively.
Gywneth Squires and her “Sun, Sea and Fun”-themed band walked away with BMA Brands of Barbados Award and also the Republic Bank Small Band of The Year award.
Also being a part of the awards circle were Aura Experience and Zulu International as they both won the Most Colourful Large Band awards with their “Birth of the Phoenix” and “Welcome to Paradise” themes respectively.
In looking back at several of the presentations made for judges on Monday, band leaders this year visibly went all out in their featherwork and use of punchy colours, as many of the designs took on a modern look while sporting vivid hues. Despite the setbacks with bands making their way unusually slow down to the Might Grynner Highway this year, many spectators vocally commented on how impressed they were with many of the designs seen during the day.
With the National Cultural Foundation encouraging a new crop of persons this year to dip their feet into the band designing arena, we can expect a larger variety, and even more attention to detail in costumes for next year’s big 2020 jump up, which should be one for the record books.